The Binging Syndrome
Hello there, after a week!
The ‘food’ for today’s thought is — food (I’m am so unapologetically into bad puns)! More precisely, in keeping up with recent trend, I’m going to talk about something each one of us is guilty of — Binge Eating. Binge eating is the new ritual and we’re so deep into it that it’s impossible to stop! So now, we don’t necessarily have to feel guilty about excessive eating because we have redefined “too much eating” with a fancy term: Binge eating. And with this redefinition, we don’t know how much eating is too much eating because we don’t feel the need to keep a check on it.
A little backstory on why I decided to go completely candid about our eating patterns, our eating habits, the good, the bad and the worst of them — a couple of days ago, a friend, who has cut down unhealthy weight and is sticking to a healthy lifestyle, told me that due to her academic priorities etc. she is unable to follow her diet or keep up with the workouts. Categorically, she thinks she is putting on because of all the unchecked eating and surrendering to her cravings. She happened to be just like most of us: habitually needs something to nibble on while working or while being productive in general. In a nutshell, she tends to binge eat, again, just like most of us, and wanted my advice on what can be done about it. And this is my take on it –
Because we don’t say it often anymore, I’m going to pen it down: Binge eating, any which way, is a problem. It can screw up all the effort you are putting in to go healthy and heavily demotivate you. Let me tell you something you already know but don’t take it up as seriously: changing your eating habits is the first step to go about a healthier lifestyle.
About a few years ago I belonged to the heavier or plus size (not in a healthy, strong way) category. Like the 3 out of every 10 girls, I suffer from PCOD/PCOS and since there is no definite cure for this condition, losing all the excess fat and unhealthy weight while switching to an overall healthy lifestyle to keep my PCOD under the radar, was given for me.
We, most certainly, are what we eat. We are healthy (aesthetically pleasing and seamlessly functioning humans) if we eat well and eat right. Essentially, I had to start by changing my food choices and my feeding behavior.
Being a mad foodie and a majorly indulging in binge eating, I learnt that eating smart is one way to handle excessive eating. One thing that most of us crave (quite a lot of people have a sweet tooth) is anything SWEET (sugar). Obviously, chocolates are always handy and preferred by most people. But instead of chocolates, what I did when I went crazy and binge ate for anything sweet is, I would go for a Nutrition bar or dark chocolates (but these aren’t really for the ‘sugar’ craving); any nutrition bar (preferably no sugar). Normally, I wouldn’t recommend these bars (dark chocolates, definitely a yes-yes-yes) but then that’s the game changer: when I say eat smart, I don’t mean replace a Cadbury with a Nutrition bar; the smart part is when you realize you cannot over eat a Nutrition Bar as opposed to your favorite Cadbury or chocolate (also, because of the disgrace the Nutrition Bars are to the family of chocolates). Even if you do end up eating the entire bar, you won’t pop another one (you can totally pop another dark chocolate though but that won’t do any good for your sweet tooth). It’s a win-win-win situation. You fulfill your craving, you don’t end up binge eating something so harmful as sugar and since it’s supposed to be a Nutrition Bar, you do get some nutrition and it gives you the feeling of a full stomach.
Since we’re talking about sugar here, I started finding better alternatives for it when I completely gave up sugar. I’m slightly off track from the binge eating talk but on a side note, I sincerely urge you to give up sugar. Sugar is slow poison. I don’t want to get into the science behind making that statement just yet but there is absolutely no reason to take sugar as a part of your routine meal or daily beverages. Our body gets all the sugar it needs from the other components of nutrition (carbs, fat etc.). Fruits and fruit juices are out-an-out the best sources of sugar. I don’t intend to ‘sugar’-coat (see what I did there?) it for you so I’m laying it flat out — changing your dietary patterns and breaking bad eating habits isn’t a piece of cake (I did it again!), it’s grueling and so not fun in the beginning but once you see your lifestyle evolve into something so much better by eating right and making better/healthier food choices, you don’t have the heart to break your flow.
Coming back to the over feeding disorder — personally, I have never been a person who enjoyed snacking on packets of chips (Lays, Pringles, Cheetos, Desi namkeen etc.) but since eating while you do anything is a thing, I figured I could help with some better options. Having worked in corporate, I have witnessed (and also indulged, at times) people finishing up packets of junk food at work. Apart from a full-fledged meal and a smoke after, people in corporate have an unjustified need to constantly snack while at work. I don’t mean to pick on what people eat but a small change of snacking on almonds or walnuts instead of packets of chips can make a drastic difference. You not only cut down considerable amount of unhealthy food but you also complete a good share of consuming nutrition rich substances. Almonds are very rich in proteins and good fat, they get you full quickly because they are a great source of fiber and you obviously don’t overindulge. Even if you binge eat on almonds and walnuts, more good is done than harm. The people who don’t eat chips/junk or involve in munching should also go for almonds and walnuts in between meals.
Learning and adapting and preferring to eat well, eat right and eat smart is a process. But baby steps are always a good way to go through with anything. For starters, I curbed my over indulgence in eating when I switched to eating healthier foods that make me feel full quickly and didn’t leave me with a guilt on having a little extra than what my stomach needed. Fruits, milkshakes, juices and nutrition bars (and/or dark chocolates if you’re game) over binge eating chocolates is a small but significant change in your diet and this small change really got me going. Choose dry fruits, preferably almonds and walnuts, over a pack of chips. Even if you over feed yourself here, it won’t pry into your effort to give up on binge eating unhealthy food.
Needless to say, we’re all allowed to have our moments of vulnerability. You can loosen up and go easy on yourself in those moments, occasionally, but don’t fall prey to the binging syndrome. Rise above it after those moments pass!
I’m going to talk about the foods to eat and switching to clean eating soon. Until then, eat up, fellas (but don’t go crazy)!
