How to Navigate Triggers to Binge Eat
Binge eating can sometimes feel like it comes out of nowhere. One minute you are going about your day, and the next the urge to binge feels incredibly strong and difficult to interrupt.
But often, when we begin to slow things down and pay attention, we can start to notice patterns.
Maybe the urge to binge eat tends to show up at a certain time of day. Maybe it happens when you are home alone, bored, stressed, overwhelmed, or after a difficult interaction. Maybe you notice it more on days when you haven’t eaten enough, have been restricting certain foods, or have spent the day thinking about what you should or shouldn’t eat.
These are your triggers.
Your triggers will be individual to you, and there may be more than one. Becoming aware of them gives you an opportunity to recognize what is happening before you are already in the middle of a binge.
And that awareness creates space to do something different.
Step 1: Become Aware of Your Triggers:
You may already be relatively clear on what triggers your urge to binge. Some people are. But many truly aren’t certain, or are aware of some triggers but not others.
I would love to invite you to take a week and simply get curious with yourself. So much about recovery is in knowing yourself.
When you notice the urge to binge (or have binged), take note of what was happening:
Were you bored?
What time of day was it?
Were you at home, at work, or on the way to somewhere?
What were you feeling? Were you stressed or anxious or anticipating anything?
Were you alone or with someone?
Were you spending time on the screen? (scrolling social media, watching TV, etc.).
I really want you to get curious here. Become an observer of your life and simply notice what you notice without placing judgment on it.
Once you have more awareness around your triggers for binge eating, it’s time to implement some other tools.
Tools to Navigate the Urge to Binge Eat:
1. Alternate Activities:
What are alternate activities?
Alternate activities are simply things that you cannot or know that you will not binge eat while doing. These activities can be implemented when you know that you are going into a triggering situation, have been triggered, are in a triggering situation, or entering a challenging time of day. They help you identify the urge and trigger and try to create some space between the trigger/ urge and the symptom of binge eating.
How does it work?
Take pen to paper and jot down a list of possible alternate activities for you, which are things that you cannot easily binge while doing, but yet are easily doable in your everyday life.
Don’t worry too much about finding the perfect thing. This is trial and error and you will amend this list as you work through it (you will find that some things serve you really well and others simply don’t!).
Some examples of alternate activities may include:
Taking a bath or shower, going out for a walk, going to a store you love, going to the library, doing art, video calling a friend or family member, painting your nails, meditating, etc. It can honestly be anything that works for you!
Now that you have your list, keep it somewhere you can easily access.
Maybe you take a picture and save it to your phone, keep it in the notes of your phone, or tape it somewhere in your home (or other place in your life that you most often binge, for example your car or office) that you see often.
Now that you know your triggers, practice becoming very aware of them.
Maybe you know that being bored in the evening is a trigger to binge, for example. If so, don’t even wait for the urge to binge the next time you are headed into a span of unstructured time.
When you become aware of your trigger, work on getting ahead of that binge.
Do so by choosing 1-2 alternate activities from your list to do that evening and see if you can create some space from the trigger and/ or urge to binge, and the actual act of it.
Keep practicing!
This takes time. You will sometimes be able to catch it, and other times it will feel like a tornado blowing through you. Stay present and stay patient. In recovery it is important to give ourselves grace and space.
In time, you will have more and more moments of being able to notice those urges and triggers and therefore more opportunities to make another choice. The awareness is foundational and creates the space for a different action.
Truly, recovery is an act of knowing thyself.
2.Urge Surfing:
Did you know that on average, it takes 20-30 minutes for the urge to binge to peak and then dissipate? The urge to binge feels so incredibly overpowering, but I find this knowledge really helps. It means that when the urge to binge eat begins, the clock does too. In half an hour it will feel like a ripple instead of a wave.
With this knowledge, we can utilize a tool called urge surfing.
How does it work?
When you notice your trigger or feel an urge to binge eat, set your timer for 30 minutes. You can adjust this time to your specifics once you learn how long your urges typically last for. For example, maybe you will learn after a few tries at this that your ideal time is 20 or 25 minutes instead.
I like to pair this tool with that alternate activity list. Pick something, and engage in it for that duration of time (do your nails, go for a 30 minute walk, do a 30 minute guided meditation, video call a family or friend, take a shower and take the time to pamper yourself, do your hair…anything goes!).
Inhale, exhale and ride the wave. Each urge is just that- a wave of intensity that will rise and then fall.
Learning to recognize your triggers and create space between an urge to binge and acting on it takes time and practice. You won’t catch every urge, and you don’t need to. Each time you notice what is happening, get curious about what you need, and practice responding differently, you are building another piece of recovery.
Full recovery from binge eating disorder is absolutely possible.
If you are struggling with binge eating and would like support, I offer personalized nutrition counselling to help you better understand your patterns, work through what is keeping you stuck, and build a healthier relationship with food.