Bulimia Help

It is best to devise a plan that suits your needs, everyone is different. Some get up later than others, some can't choose their lunch hours and others don't have the opportunity to eat dinner at the same time each day.

We have devised rough guidelines which involve not leaving more than 3-4 hours in between meals and snacks (remember this is the important part).

We outline the importance of eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks each day.

Structured eating example: Breakfast AM

Breakfast is your most important meal of the day.

When you sleep your bodily functions slow down, including your metabolism which can slow down by 20% during the night. Your body has also been through a period of fasting which results in low blood sugar. When you wake, if no breakfast is consumed, blood sugar levels will continue to drop and sugar cravings will develop!

Breakfast helps to:

• Pick up your metabolic rate and fuels your tank
• Helps the mind to wake up
• Gets your bowels moving
• Prevents binging and food cravings
• Can help you remain alert for morning activities.

 

Tips for eating breakfast:

• It is best to eat breakfast within one hour of rising to switch off the ‘starvation mode’ and kick start your metabolism
• Please remember to eat what you feel comfortable with
• If you do not eat breakfast try to introduce it slowly
• Fruit smoothies are handy if you are in a rush in the morning, prepare them the night before.
• Don’t forget to pack important snacks for your day.

Structured eating example: Mid-afternoon snack 11AM

Try and eat a snack around 2-3 hours after your breakfast, you will need a pick me up!

Snacking is a great way to keep your energy levels up and avoid cravings approaching.

Although there is a lot of hype about snacking – it can be very beneficial to prevent you going hungry.
Like with your regular breakfast, lunch and dinner, it's important to only eat snacks that you are comfortable with.  If one of your snacks triggered a binge, then make sure you write this down in your food journal.  This means you can identify why it's making you binge. Perhaps your body is calling out for fat or sugar because you are not eating enough nutrition throughout your day!

Snacking can prevent you getting too hungry

Remember: if you are hungry, it means that your blood sugar levels are falling and your brain is telling your body to find food to increase sugar levels. Such cravings usually mean cravings for sugar -to provide a quick energy release.  It's best to eat snacks that burn for longer.  High sugar snacks will give you a quick rise in blood sugar levels then drop suddenly, this can lead to more sugar cravings and even end up in a binge!

Structured eating example: Lunch 2PM

After pottering around all morning doing your daily tasks you are going to need to eat again to top up your energy levels and keep ‘off’ the starvation mode.

Eating regular meals in a regular pattern will benefit you greatly. If you skip meals because you are attempting to make up for what you recently ate or for something you are going to eat then your body will only make up for this later on.

Binging will happen when you let your body get too hungry!

If there is a gap of more than three hours between breakfast and lunch make sure you eat a snack!

For your lunch find a quit place and sit down to eat.  Eat slowly, and try and enjoy your meal.  If you decide to use the Guided Eating Sessions with your lunch, then follow the instructions that are given.

Please do not skip lunch.

Mid afternoon snack time example: 4PM

Don't forget to eat a mid-afternoon snack to top up!

Structured eating example: Dinner 6PM

If you have managed to successfully eat breakfast, lunch and snacks without putting your body in starvation mode, then congratulate yourself. However, this certainly does not involve leaving out dinner. If you skip dinner then chances are you will binge later on in the evening, during the night or perhaps even the next day!

Tips for Dinner

• Try and make your meal as pleasurable as possible
• Lay out your best plate and cutlery set
• Light a candle and sit down to eat with no distractions
• Remember the key is to generate awareness throughout your meal
• Try and widen your food varieties
• Try to include grain, fruit, and vegetables, protein and dairy in your meals

It's a good plan to spread the above foods out throughout your day. This can help keep cravings at bay and keep your hunger levels balanced out. 

How long will I need to stay with Structured eating?

We recommend structured eating continuing until you start to develop your food intuition.

This could be a few weeks or a few months. Signs your food intuition is improving include:

• Bring able to feel normal sensations of hunger
• Feeling normal satiety sensations
• Noticing a decrease in binging
• An increase in knowing what your body is asking for
• Becoming very 'in tune' with your body's everyday needs
• Using your body intelligence everyday to tell you what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat!

How do I go from Structured eating to using my intuition?

Normally you don't just stop structured eating one day and start using your intuition the next. The change over tends to be gradual.

This is because it takes a while for your body to re-learn new ways of eating and to move away from destructive eating habits that have been an automatic response for some time.

It can also takes time for your body to regain trust, and like wise. It takes time for you to trust your body around food.

Th progression is therefore gradual. You may start to become more aware of your body and understand your hunger sensations far better. You will also start to feel satiety and be able to listen out for signs from your body telling you enough food has been consumed.

Later down the line you will understand what exactly your body is wanting and when.

These skills require practice and patience. Eventually you will become a master of your own body intelligence, but, it will not happen overnight, it requires work and commitment. Please stick with it!

Once you gain an understanding of your Body Intelligence you will realize how skilled your body is at letting you know what foods it needs and when!