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Basic Overcoming Overeating Tools 2001 |
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The tools for overcoming overeating that are presented on this page are from the book “When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies”, by Jane Hirschmann & Carol Munter. I highly urge anyone interested in learning about compulsive overeating to read this book. The explanations below are in my words, as I understand them, and as I would explain them to a friend. This non-diet approach has helped a lot of women, including myself, to make major changes in the role food plays in our lives. There is freedom from obsessing about food, and your body. It takes patience and it takes support, but it can be done. ~ JK
Mouth Hunger (MH) Mouth Hunger (MH): Put very simply, eating from mouth hunger means eating when you are not physically hungry. This type of eating can be both soothing and painful for the compulsive overeater. What we learn through OO is to recognize mouth hunger, and to try to see if we can figure out what is triggering it (am I anxious? scared? lonely?). Then we try to find another way to soothe ourselves (distraction, warm baths, reading, going for a walk, or even just sitting still). When you first begin, this may seem quite difficult, even impossible. It is important to remember that you learned to eat from mouth hunger a long time ago, and the pattern was reinforced over many years of successful practice. Since this is a learned behavior, it can be unlearned with time and patience. But even after you have been at it for a long time there will still be times when nothing else will do but to feed the mouth hunger. And it is okay to eat from mouth hunger. But there is to be no punishment when you choose to do so. This lack of negative messaging allows you to keep moving forward without the familiar binge triggered by thoughts of having failed, or having broken your diet. The good news is that the times of eating from MH become fewer and farther between, and when they do occur there is no berating of oneself. It is quite a wonderful feeling to realize you haven't binged, or eaten steadily all evening after dinner, for a long time. This is what can happen when you practice staying in touch with MH and you learn other ways to handle emotional pain. Stomach Hunger (SH): Many women who have a lengthy history of overeating have lost touch with their satiety signal. They eat because it is time to eat according to the clock, or because everyone else is eating, or because they are experiencing negative emotions. It is now time to meet your satiety signal. There is a good exercise in the book to help you accomplish this. Learning to listen to your satiety signal will also allow you to stop eating when you are full. By not eating past full, you may end up feeling hungry at a time other than a normal scheduled meal. This is fine, because the long range goal is to be able to listen to what you body needs for fuel, and then feed it. No matter when, no matter what. Legalizing: What would it be like if every food was created equal? There would be no “diet” food, no “bad” food, no “junk” food. This is what legalizing is all about. If a food makes you sick, gives you heartburn, wreaks havoc with your blood sugar, then of course you should not eat it. But the food is not bad, eating it just doesn't agree with you. Otherwise, you are now free to eat whatever you want. Scary thought? Well, as you read more and learn about the other tools to help you stop obsessing about food and your weight, you will see how important this tool is. And as you make progress, if you find yourself getting stuck with obsessions again, the first thing to do is to take a look at legalizing again. When you hit your first holiday after beginning to learn OO, it will bring back the doubts about certain foods being “okay” to eat. But I promise, once you have fully legalized all food, and worked with the other tools, you will be bale to look at anything and not have it torment you. Stocking Up:Are you ready for this? Stocking up means not only do you go buy the foods that “glitter” for you, the foods you normally binge on, the ones that are “off-limits” when you diet, but buying them in massive quantities. I'm talking about 5 bags of Oreos, not 2. Or maybe 8 bags of Fritos and 6 frozen pizzas. The trick is to buy more than you could possibly eat in one binge. Way more!!! Then, when your supply gets to about half of its original size, go buy more. Are you panicking yet? Has your partner decided you have lost your mind? Well, this process really works. One of the reasons is that by having more than you could possibly eat on hand, you will begin to relax. You no longer have to obsess about the food, because there is plenty there. More than you can handle. Some women have a food shelf that is off limits to other family members. Others allow eating from their stock pile, but make sure to keep it overflowing. It also can help to label leftovers so your family does not eat them. As you can see, cooperation and support from your family is very helpful, but if you can't get it, there are ways to work around that. If you are wondering how you will stop yourself from attacking all this glittery food, the answer is you won't! You will allow yourself to eat whatever you want, and as much as you want, whenever you want. Here is where trust, patience and asking for help from those who have gone before you will come into play. Those who stick to it will be able to tell you about the day their favorite donut, or cake, or ice cream became repulsive to them. You will begin to wonder how these foods ever sparkled for you, as you find you actually don't even like them. And if the next question is about weight gain from eating without abandon, the answer is that it may happen. It also may not happen. Each of us is different when it comes to metabolism, and it will also depend on whether or not you are just coming off a diet. Remember how every time you stopped dieting you gained weight? It's the same phenomenon, only this time you are going to rid yourself of ever dieting again. By stocking up, you are going to learn to not restrict. Restricting is what leads to the , both on and off of diets. Again, patience, and support will be valuable for this part, and it is readily available on the Overcoming Overeating list. Food Bag: Since you are now eating whenever you are hungry, you must be prepared to eat at all times. This is best accomplished by carrying a food bag. Every day you can fill it with the foods you think you might want. Leftovers, cheese, bread, fruit, candy, cookies. Whatever you fancy. Some people keep a drawer in their desk at work stocked. Having your food handy means you won't have the panic that comes from having to go hungry until someone else decides it is time to eat. Remember, waiting to eat when you are hungry is a form of restricting, and restricting leads to bingeing. I'm sure you can relate to this, as many of us eat past full every time we wait too long to eat once we get hungry. As you progress with OO, you will begin to notice what foods last how long for you, and you will be able to gauge what you need to eat to get to the meal you want to enjoy with your friends, or family. It will take some time to get to this point, but it is doable. Bad Body Thoughts (BBTs): Have you ever said mean things to yourself about your body? Stupid question, right? Of course you have. Chances are, so have many other people in your life. Well, guess what? It's time to stop treating yourself worse than you would treat your best friend. The first step to stopping this destructive bingeing behavior is to recognize when you do it. It is helpful to enlist the support of someone you trust, who can give you a simple “BBT” when they hear it. Then your job is to apologize to yourself. Really! Out loud is best, but if you are not alone and are self-conscious, say the words in your head. Soon you will notice how much those little messages were hurting you. If you can replace them with positive messages, just think what would happen to your self image! Mirror Work: Did you sit in front of your mirror today, naked, and really take a good long, loving look at the body that has housed your precious soul all these years? What? You didn't? Well, guess what? This is what you can do to make peace with your physical housing. It is hard work, and often put off out of fear, but it is necessary work. By doing mirror work you will be able to stop having BBTs every time you pass a store window and see that woman who looks like you but can't possibly be you!! You will not only know what you look like, but you can learn to accept that you are fine, even beautiful, just the way you are.
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