Last Updated on June 19, 2021
Someone once asked on how she could stop her craving of sweet foods. The moment she started eating something sweet, she could not stop like the whole day.
Actually, the cause of bingeing probably goes deeper than just liking sweet food. The compulsive desire to eat something sweet or overeat could be to fill an inner void.
When we feel very compelled to get something in, it is often to fill some kind of emptiness or loneliness inside. It is not merely just liking to eat or a matter of willpower. It is only that many times we can exert willpower- and with the battle that goes on within (inner dialogues such as: eat, don’t eat, eat, don’t eat, you are bad, you are useless, etc) makes self loathing even more if we ‘lose’ the battle and end up bingeing.
If we constantly binge, we would need to dig deeper into the reasons and triggers that makes us just want to forget everything and drown our sorrows with food.
For some, they actually throw up after getting the food. It implies some degree of self-loathing involved- because it would be an aspect that we would always be ashamed and hate within ourselves. We binge to fill some inner void and then throw up to prevent people from finding out and to keep our weight under control. But doing that is actually very bad for our health- because having acid upwards would damage our digestive track.
But of course we would probably know all the bad health implication. And yet we cannot break the habit- so that would mean that we would not love and accept what is inside us.
If we cannot love and accept what is inside us, we cannot expect others to do the same. Even if there is, then it’s either we would feel that we are living a lie, and if the person knows of our ‘secret’, he/she would no longer love us. It is very much tied up to self esteem issues- that is why counselling is important. When we are not able to help ourselves, we would benefit from professional help from NGO based or those like Befrienders.
Is it that we are single and feel alone? If that is the case, find a worthwhile cause, project, hobby that would motivate us- we all have something that we are good in…and if we are single, then it’s a good time to explore it. Don’t get too worried about the pressures from the media on the happily ever afters and fairy tales- actually, life is often one compromise over another- we get some, we lose some- there is no fairytale land or happy endings- even if we are in a relationship, we seriously need to work on it. Somethings are meant to be- if it is, it’s all good- if not, then we need to accept things and move on.
Once the inner issues are resolved, the desire to binge would just go off by itself.
