Bulimia Help

Step 1

Write down all thoughts and feelings you have after your binge
After your binge sit down with pen and paper and write down all your negative thoughts and feelings that are going through your mind.

Write down all the things that you done in the past after a binge/purge episode, for example did you devise a strict diet or exercise plan to stick to or did you run failure thoughts continuously through your head for days. Write down how they failed and list better ways of dealing with the aftermath of binging that does not involve purging!

Step 2

Write down all the good things about yourself
Opposite your negative thoughts write down all the good things you like about yourself. If you write that you are greedy for binging then write down why you think you were binging in the first place.
If you told yourself that you are lousy for screwing up, write down how you can learn from the next binge relapse, and so on.

Step 3

Write down positive things to do after a relapse
Write down all the positive things that you can do if you have another relapse. For example write down you will plan to eat every three hours to stop the binge triggers coming on, or anything else constructive that may help you.

Step 4

Go for a little walk
After a binge take a little walk (not a power walk) just a gentle walk, the fresh air will make you feel better and the gentle exercise can relieve stress that you feel associated with the binge.

Step 5

Be nice to yourself
Be nice to yourself and treat yourself with respect instead of beating yourself up.  Use something that is not food related like treating yourself to some nice bath products or new nail varnish or do something else that will cheer you up.

Step 6

No not restrict food to compensate
Remember the more you restrict your food intake the more likely that you will end up binging. By not restricting you are getting rid of the main binge trigger culprit: ‘physical hunger’.

Before you do this exercise first read through all the steps

Step 1

Rate your cravings
When you have food cravings and binge urges focus hard on your craving and rate your craving strength from 1 -20, with (1= being the lowest rating and 10 = being the highest).

Write down how strong your craving is.
This will be an important indicator to see how quickly you can adapt to your craving sensation.

Step 2

•    Think about the food you are craving, with two fingers (left or right hand), make 10 firm taps above of one of your eyes.
•    When you are finished tap under this eye once
•    Now tap under your collarbone, not losing focus on your cravings, followed by a tap under your armpit.

Step 3

Next is a sequence of activities that are done while tapping at a spot on the back of either hand.

The spot is just below and between the knuckle of the little finger and the knuckle of the next finger. With the hand flat, tap this spot continually while doing the following activities (about 5 taps for each of the 9 activities). Each activity is designed to activate a different area of your brain:

• eyes closed
• eyes open
• eyes look down and to the right (head still)
• eyes look down and to the left
• roll eyes in a circle
• roll eyes in a circle in the opposite direction
• hum a little tune (to isolate the right brain)
• count to five (to activate the left brain)

Step 4

Repeat the first sequence of tapping
Repeat the beginning of the sequence making ten taps above one eye, then tap under the eye as you continue to think about your food craving, followed by a tap on your collarbone and under your armpit.

Step 5

Check in with food craving

Now it is time to ‘check in’ with your food craving, on the craving scale make a note of your craving and write it down, if it is still quite high then repeat the tapping process.

Watch this u-tube video about tapping and see if its right for you.

Step 1

If you are feeling the need to binge try to postpone it for 5 minutes. Tell yourself that you can go back to it in a few minutes, but first you are going to call someone or write a few lines in your success journal.

Now: Do anything to distract you for 5 whole minutes.

Step 2

After 5 minutes asses how you feel. Could you postpone the binge for another 5 minutes? Or do you need to binge now. If you do binge, at least you managed to postpone it for 5 minutes. Next time you can try to go for longer.

Step 3

Continue to postpone the binge for 5 minute intervals until the urge disappears or you decide to binge.

Step 1

Stop focusing on the fact that you slipped
Instead investigate why you slipped. OK so you slipped, you binged and purged and now you feel bad. However by focusing in on it and being judgmental and critical about yourself will get you nowhere.

When a baby takes its first few steps and falls down it does not cry and cry, it will pick itself back up and try again. You need to do the same, accept that you slipped, document it in your food journal and learn from it.

Be your own private detective and find out why you relapsed. Record your binges in your online food journal, after some time you will be able to see patterns forming of what is driving you to binge eat. Were you hungry? Angry? Bored? Who was around you prior to the binge, what happened prior to the binge? All these things make up the pieces in the puzzle.

Step 2

Do not punish yourself
It is important not to punish yourself if you relapse, remember that relapses are expected. If you think you will have to starve or do vigorous exercise to compensate then tell yourself you are only feeding your next binge.

Instead treat yourself with respect and devise a plan that will help prevent binges from happening, this means making sure hunger is not going to get in the way as a binge trigger. Eat every three hours and eat at least three meals and two snacks a day.

Step 3

Banish your negative thoughts
Sit down in a quiet room and try some of the relaxation tools that are available, these tools will help you stop thinking about the negative thoughts that are swimming through your mind.

Remember you have not failed; you have not ruined everything, you can pick yourself up again and get on with your recovery.

You have been binging and purging for years so be patient with yourself, it takes time to change.

Step  4

Focus on your accomplishments
Instead of putting all your focus on failures and self-judgment, change the focus to what you managed to accomplish.

• Have you managed to eat every three hours?
• Have you managed to eat three meals a day?
• Have you been practicing eating with awareness?
• Have you done any Guided Eating Sessions™?
• Have you tried to banish your diet mentality?
• Have you been nice to yourself lately?

You are reading this tool on how to recover from a relapse – therefore that is an achievement in itself!

Take baby steps and become aware of everything you accomplish and start treating yourself with respect?

Step 5

Devise a plan to deal with future binge triggers
Once you manage to identify binge triggers start to devise a plan on how you are going to deal with them next time they come around without binging and purging.

Step 6

Visualize your binge deterrent
Visualization helps. Go through your binge deterrent plan and visualize yourself acting out each step. With visualization practice you will find the actual binge deterrent plan easier to master.

Step 1

H = Hungry
Before you binge ask yourself: ‘Am I really hungry’, If you are not hungry but you feel yourself reaching for food then chances are you are not physically hungry and you are about to eat for another purpose.

Step 2

A = anxious
Research has shown that stress can increase our appetite. When you are about to eat ask yourself if you are feeling stressed or anxious, is this driving you to eat?

If you are anxious then you need to try some of our relaxation and breathing tools that are available, once stress and anxiety are reduced see if you still feel like binging.

Step 3

L = Lonely
Loneliness can cause binging; the reason is that food is used as a comfort and distraction from feeling lonely. When you are about to binge ask yourself if you are lonely. If you think you are, think of something else that you can do to help combat your feelings of loneliness, like talking to a friend or your support buddy, tracking your progress, writing your own story, phoning a friend, writing a letter to someone, or visiting a relative.

Step 4

T = Tired
Sometimes people eat because they are feeling agitated or not content, they are perhaps confusing tiredness with hunger. When you are tired you are not quite as alert as you normally are, so it is important to check if you are hungry or simply tired.

Try and do the relaxation exercise and see how you feel afterwards, if you need more rest you are probably tired  and need some sleep.

Step 1

Record your hunger
Before you binge try and take a note of your hunger using the hunger scale.
At half way point in your binge see if you can generate awareness of how your stomach is feeling and write down your hunger/fullness level using the hunger scale.
When you finish your binge episode write down how you felt before binging and purging and how you feel after.

Step 2

Thoughts and feelings
Record what thoughts and feelings are present prior to the binge eating.
For example you may have felt anxious, bored, stressed, sad, lonely?

Note down any thoughts that are running through your head and write down what mood you are in.

Step 3

The situation and place
Where were you when the binge urges came on, were you in a public place, at home, work, at a party, buffet, friend’s house, or another event, did you just come off the phone to someone? Are you on holiday or staying with relatives?

Step 4

People
Write down who was with you before binging, for example did your friend call over or were you at your parent’s house?

When you feel a binge come on grab pen to paper and start searching!

Answer these questions as honestly and in as much detail as you possibly can.

Step 1

As soon as you recognize a binge urge immediately say STOP!  loudly in your mind, then take in a large deep breath in of fresh air and let it out slowly.

Step 2

Ask yourself: Have I been dieting? Depriving myself of food? Or not eating regular meals recently?

If the answer is no then continue on with the search. If the answer is yes then this may be the reason you feel the need to binge. It is useful to learn to address your physical needs before you address your emotional triggers.

Step 3

Have these questions close at hand and go through them one by one;

1. What do I really honestly want from binging?

2. What has happened recently to bring such feelings on?

3 Have I been in this situation before and how did I previously deal with it? Did I deal with it effectively?

4. If I could imagine the perfect solution to this problem what would it be? What would it look like? What would it feel like?

5. What have I done to ease this discomfort so far?

6. What else can I do? (try to list as many answers as possible)

7. If I choose to binge how will I feel when I am binging?

8. If I choose to binge how will I feel afterwards?

9. Can I avoid this trigger, or deal with it better in the future?

10. Do I really need to binge and purge?