The Binge Eating Therapist

On Saturday 29th February I'll be speaking at this FREE to attend 3-day online event for anyone looking to increase their knowledge about eating disorders! There are talks for sufferers as well as family, friends and professionals.
There are some pretty big names speaking and I am unbelievably excited to be sharing the bill with the likes of Dr Nina Savelle-Rocklin, an LA therapist and talk show host who discusses and writes about all things to do with binge eating!
Please no...te, the event is only free if you watch the talks on the day they are aired. After this you have to buy a pass to access the talks or if you want to keep them for future reference.
Hopefully see some of you there!!
#EDAWOnlineSummit #EDAW2020

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Do you eat when you’re bored? Does everything seem to be going ok food-wise and then the moment you stop, boredom kicks in and you end up bingeing?
This is one of the most common reasons people give for overeating. I think we need to change the way we view boredom eating...because I don’t think all is as it seems...
To find out how to stop overeating because you’re bored, check out this week’s brand new YouTube video.
... https://youtu.be/TWqrpzgdZmE
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You know what it’s like to feel guilty about your eating. When you feel guilty after a binge, you repent, swear you won’t do it again and plan to make up for it by being ‘good’ or trying harder.
Does that work? History shows us it doesn’t and THAT’s why we keep ending up in the same place. What was is it Einstein said? Something about doing the same thing and expecting different results is a sign of insanity. . Guilt means you did something wrong. When we repeatedly do someth...ing we believe is wrong we start to believe there must be something wrong with US. This is when guilt becomes shame.
Shame blocks personal growth. We struggle to change and then we feel even MORE ashamed of ourselves for not ‘fixing’ ourselves. Argh! Where does it end? It’s a downward spiral.
Choosing to reject guilt doesn’t mean you don’t feel regret. If we are bingeing to the point where we feel uncomfortable, we may always feel like we wished we hadn’t done it again.
This is fine. Wishing you’d made a different choice is different to wearing a millstone of guilt and shame around your neck. Imagine trying a new restaurant, but the food and service was terrible. Would you feel guilty about that? No. But you might wish you’d made a different choice.
Our emotions always impact our thinking. When binge eating feels so catastrophic, it’s impossible to find some perspective and figure out what’s really driving your bingeing.
Forgive yourself. Accept the regret. Move on.
#bingeeating #bingeeatingrecovery #intuitiveeating #intuitiveeatingjourney #intuitiveeatingofficial #bingeeatingdisorder #bingeeatingdisorderrecovery #bedrecovery #compulsiveeating #compulsiveeater #compulsiveeatingdisorder #disorderedeating #disorderedeatingrecovery #beatthebinge #foodguilt #nofoodguilt #thebingeeatingtherapist #icantstopeatingbook
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This made me smile today! ☺️ Just a friendly reminder to all of you out there who are beating up on yourselves for what you did (or didn’t eat today). I see you 👀 ❤️ . Image from #bodyacceptance #bodyneutrality #bodyneutral #weightneutrality #weightneutral #youaintyourweight #icantstopeatingbook #disorderedeating #disorderedeatingrecovery #compulsiveeating #bingeeating #bingeeatingdisorder #bingeeatingrecovery #bingeeatingdisorderrecovery #bingeeatinghelp #bingeeatingtherapist

New date released for next CPD workshop for therapists/counsellors about how to work with binge eating. Tickets currently £60 on early bird!
https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/ …/working-with-bin…

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is one of the most popular treatments for binge eating. This week’s YouTube video is a personal one where I share my own experience as a client in CBT for binge eating.
https://youtu.be/ZLaPKV5J_3U

I’ll be speaking at this online summit for Eating Disorders Awareness week at the beginning of March! Details of how you can ‘virtually’ attend my talk will be announced shortly...

Why do so many of us find acceptance such a challenge? Well, for starters, it means letting go. Trying to exert self-control when you are feeling out of control seems to make a lot of sense. Letting go appears counterintuitive because you think it means you will feel out of control instead. . Every single thing you have eaten up until this very moment is no longer within your control. Take a moment to consider this. All that energy you have spent beating yourself up about you...r past food choices has been energy spent on arguing with something that is beyond your control. You have an appetite for food. You cannot change the fact you have an appetite and that your appetite fluctuates. You have tried to dominate it and this only made it more powerful. There is a part of your brain that knows how to undermine your will at any hint of restriction, so you keep losing control each time you try to push back or ignore your hunger. . Think of all the times you have planned to eat less tomorrow in order to “make up” for what you’ve eaten today. Those were restrictive thoughts and these can trigger forces that are capable of taking you over, so you end up bingeing in reaction to anticipated restriction. . It’s challenging because you believe you should be able to simply decide how much you put in your mouth. Other people seem to be able to do this, so why can’t you? . Maybe you just can’t. . Because you end up bingeing when you do. . Because your brain and biology has found a way to override your will to restrict your food intake. Your instinct to eat had to ramp up higher because you have been trying to cage it. It took the reins away from you in an attempt to protect you from self-imposed starvation. . ⬆️ This is an excerpt from my new book, I Can’t Stop Eating (link to buy in bio). #icantstopeatingbook #disorderedeatingrecovery #disorderedeating #bingeeating #bingeeatingrecovery #bingeeatingdisorder #bodyacceptance #weightneutral #weightneutrality #bodyneutral #bodyneutrality #bodytrust #bodypeace #bodypositivity #bingeeatinghelp #stopbingeeating #foodfear #foodanxiety
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New video is up. Something a little different this time; a review of one of my all-time favourite books about food anxiety.
https://youtu.be/QSQ3uC6yTP8

I can completely relate to this @geneenroth quote. That ‘freshness’ and shift in perspective that follows surrendering to reality is delicious! . Accepting the reality of the moment doesn’t mean that nothing changes. Quite the opposite. When you stop fighting what is you stop pouring energy into resisting what you can’t change. When you stop resisting you become free to make choices. Choices that serve your higher interest. ❤️ . #geneenroth #geneenrothquotes #womenfoodandgod #disorderedeating #disorderedeatingrecovery #compulsiveeating #compulsiveeatingdisorder #compulsiveeatingrecovery #edquotes #bodyacceptance #selfacceptancequotes #bodytrust #makepeacewithfood #makepeacewithyourself #makepeacewithyourbody #acceptyourself #acceptreality

My book ‘I Can’t Stop Eating’ is available today from Amazon! In the book I draw from my own experience of recovery from binge eating, as well as through working with others, to guide you through how to find freedom from compulsive eating.
https://youtu.be/Jw0m1QEPApk

Talking about body image and diets on Roundtable. For full episode go to https://youtu.be/A5x0n_dpKJM

Put your own oxygen mask on first. . #selfcare #selfloveisthebestlove #blackandwhitethinking #codependencyrecovery #youareenough #bethechange #bethechangeyouwanttosee #beyourownfriend #toxicrelationships #toxicrelationshipsurvivor #toxicrelationshipquotes #personalresponsibility #dramatriangle #transactionalanalysis #psychotherapy #psychotherapistsofinstagram

We know that restricting or attempting to restrict your food intake increases bingeing. When some people give up dieting and trying to lose weight, their bingeing behaviours vanish. . However, for most of the people I see, this just isn’t the case. There are many people helping others to reject diet culture and give themselves full permission to eat. This is brilliant and much needed, but to say restriction is the ONLY reason for bingeing is to oversimplify a complex problem.... . Bingeing can also be: 1. A form of self-punishment. Some people even describe it as a type of self-harm. 2. A way of managing trauma and feeling safe. 3. A coping mechanism for anxiety, depression and other mood or emotional distress. The body can become dependent on bingeing to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system into action. 4. An addictive cycle. Thoughts, feelings and behaviours around food can be identical to other addictions such as alcohol or gambling. 5. A way to replay old patterns. The culture around food in our family can create all kinds of deep set feelings and beliefs about hunger, waste and food quantities. 6. An escape. For some people, food is one of the few pleasure in their life. 7. A habit. I don’t say this lightly. Habits can be extremely powerful and challenging to break. . There are probably many more reasons than these. I haven’t even touched on hormonal health and other more complex and unconscious processes. . So you may be feeling disheartened with the whole non-diet approach. Perhaps you’ve experienced improvements, but still struggle with some bingeing. It may be that giving up restriction was just one important piece of the puzzle. . In order to understand and know ourselves and our motivations better, we need to spend time with ourselves. The constant distractions and busyness of our lives aren’t suited to this kind of inner reflective work. . But just like you can’t know someone very well until you spend time with them, we can’t know our inner worlds without spending some time there too. #bingeeating #bingeeatingrecovery #bingeeatingdisorder #bingeeatingdisorderrecovery #beatthebinge #bingerestrict #disorderedeatingrecovery #disorderedeating
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Nottingham workshop on marketing your therapy private practice. I can personally vouch for the facilitator — he helped me get started! #psychotherapist #therapy #counsellor #marketing #workshop https://www.events4counsellors.net/worksh ops

I meet many people who feel GUILTY about reaching out for help. They believe they should be able to ‘fix’ their problems and they feel ashamed when they can’t. . Are you someone who puts pressure on yourself to figure things out on your own? Do you keep telling yourself that the problem must be that you’re not trying hard enough? Perhaps you believe people will judge you if they really knew what was going on in your mind. . Asking for help means making yourself vulnerable. Yo...u might be rejected; maybe that happened in the past, so you stopped hoping anyone can or will help. . There is ALWAYS so much self-judgement and shame around disordered eating. Perhaps you don’t believe you are ‘sick enough’ to deserve help. You may be someone uses the fact that there is ‘always someone worse off’ to invalidate your struggle and try to shame yourself into feeling better. . If you are someone for whom food is a regular source of anxiety and if you are someone who feels trapped and uncomfortable in your body, please don’t suffer in silence. This problem can take over your life and it isn’t your fault. Reach out. Speak to a trusted friend, connect with people online or find a counsellor if you can. You don’t have to figure this out alone and sometimes it takes strength to admit that. . #disorderedeating #disorderedeatingrecovery #disorderedeatingawareness #bingeeating #bingeeatingrecovery #bingeeatingdisorder #bingeeatingdisorderrecovery #bingerestrict #icantstopeating #bedrecovery #bedrecoverywarrior #edrecovery #edrecoverywarrior #edwarrior #edsoldier #bingeeatingtherapist
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