I’m writing this today to set the record straight.
Binge eating, emotional eating, the inability to “stick to” a meal plan or diet, binge eating disorder, or ANY eating disorder for that matter…does not mean that you’re broken or have a life long struggle ahead of you with food.
It doesn’t mean you’re a food crazed monster who doesn’t have the will power to stick to a plan.
It doesn’t mean that you’re a food or sugar addict and have to practice abstinence (cough cough: Overeaters Anonymous🙅)
It doesn’t mean that you have to fix yourself or fix your life to have this struggle “fixed”.
In fact, you can be a total mess(not that I want you to be), and still not turn to food to solve your issues…
and I’ll tell you how in just a moment.
I’m going to share why your relationship with food that’s driving you crazy is not your fault, why mainstream methods to break free from unwanted eating habits set you up to fail, and what you can do instead.
Why Dieting Isn’t The Answer
We talk a lot about why dieting sets you up to fail through triggering survival mechanisms in your brain that drive you to think about food and eat more on auto pilot. If you need a refresher on this, check out this post and video. When you trigger these “binge switches” in your brain by attempting to control what you eat, will power literally goes out the window, and you’re left “starting over”, a lot.
Once someone is in this frustrating on and off pattern with their food for a while, they typically begin to hit a point where they start looking into what could be going on. Google, books, online resources…you name it. Usually they stumble across a few solutions, one of which is the idea of intuitive eating.
Why Intuitive Eating Alone Isn’t The Answer
Intuitive Eating as a tool is GREAT. It supports the idea of learning to listen to and honor what your body needs and desires and truly tapping into what FEELS GOOD for your body. It also encourages you to release dieting and meal plans, and to practice eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.
- The problem is, some people take this eat when you’re hungry stop when you’re full thing to the extreme. They treat this like a “rule”, feeling guilty if they ever eat when they aren’t hungry, and use it to lose weight.Normal eaters have the cookie on occasion when they’re not hungry and it’s OK. Mental and emotional restricting (guilt and shame about food choices) can activate survival mechanisms and lead to a binge just as much as physically restricting food can. Not judging yourself or making yourself wrong for your food choices isn’t something intuitive eating focusses on and it’s an instrumental part of the process that will help you leave binge eating behind, for good!
- Also, someone who is coming from a diet type mentality that starts to practice intuitive eating, typically has not shut their survival mechanisms down yet (turned the switch to binge in their brain off that drives them to binge eat). When your survival mechanisms in your brain are activated, you’re going to be pulled towards foods that aren’t the healthiest, and pulled towards them often.Most people without the right support, don’t give the survival mechanisms a chance to quiet and lose faith. They go back to their old ways of eating, determining that they are one of those people who will always have to control their food and this simply isn’t true. You or anyone in this place just hasn’t had the right SYSTEM to break free that works with your brain and body instead of against it!
Phase one of our Beating Binge Eating BlueprintProgram is spent around systematically quieting the survival mechanisms so everything else can work. Without this foundational step, NOTHING works, no matter how good of a tool or coach you have.
After this, we do really support you in restoring your body’s brilliance and rebuilding the relationship between you and your body. Before long, your body will be craving things that nourish you and support your health and well-being, instead of wanting pizza all day, and you will be able listen to and trust yourself.
I know, when I was in my struggle with binge and emotional eating I didn’t believe it either but this does happen, and we see it time and time again in all the women we serve!
Why Therapy and “Deep Emotional Work” Alone Isn’t The Answer
When someone realizes that their struggles may be about more than food, they typically stumble across resources that tell them their struggle is emotional.
This implies: you have to fix these emotional or deep rooted issues BEFORE you can beat binge eating.
This isn’t true. Does it help? Sure. But it’s not the cure.
Two things to really watch out before jumping into this work thinking its the end-all-be-all solution:
- Survival mechanisms still being activated aka the “Binge Switch” still being on in the brain. This is why a lot of this work fails. People jump right into deep inner work, but they still are acting in ways that are restrictive with their food (physically restricting / controlling, judging, guilting, shaming etc) and once again, no matter how much healing you are doing, if you’re in survival mode: you are going to binge! End of story. It’s very important to start with the foundation first for lasting freedom.
- Your brain and body being “wired to binge”. This may sound defeating, but it’s not. You can actually break the link in your brain that’s driving you to binge eat and rewire your brain for freedom!
Meaning, shit can hit the fan, you can have a stressful day, anything can happen, and you can still not want to turn to food.
Do I want you to have stressful days? Of course not. Healing, growth, harmony in life…all beautiful things and worthy of dedication to. We help people find this in our program too.
However, I don’t want you feeling like everything in your life has to be absolutely perfect and every issue you’ve ever had has to be worked out to be free of your struggle with your body and food…
Because it doesn’t. Here’s why…
Brain science weeeee 🙌
Your brain LOVES to make behavior automatic to preserve it’s energy. In fact, 90% of what you did today, you did yesterday, and so on. We have free will, and we also have automatic ways of being that we don’t even realize are at work subconsciously.
You HAVE to get the brain and body on board to really break the pattern of binge eating, and you…
HAVE to reprogram your “Subconscious Eating Blueprint” to have true freedom that lasts.
I see so many people go to therapy for YEARS and spend time in out-patient and in-patient treatment, processing feelings, doing deep internal work, learning coping mechanisms and then still come out and have unwanted eating habits, and in some case, their bingeing even gets worse.
This is because their brain patterns that are driving them to binge haven’t been shifted, and their subconscious eating blueprint is taking them back to the same behavior over and over when triggered.
Therapy and related fields tend to really address the triggers, but what happens when you can’t stop or cope with every trigger? This is real life! Things are going to happen. I want that pattern in your brain that’s driving you to use food in those stressful crazy moments dissolved, for good.
In next week’s blog post I’m going to teach you about this more, and show you how to rewire the brain for freedom!
For now, know that…
– Breaking free from binge eating possible.
– You aren’t broken, it’s just that the mainstream methods to beat binge eating either don’t work at all and make things worse, or don’t work standing alone
– You don’t have to fix every part of yourself to have it easy when it comes to your body and food.
– There is actually nothing to fix. YOU ARE PERFECT. You’re simply disconnected from your power in this area, and with the right step-by-step system, you can break free from your struggle for good!
If you need any support in this area, we are here for you!
Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!
If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up…
Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!
Click the image above and let me know where to send them!
You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!
With our Craving Cards and Demo Series…
You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast!
Love,
Brittany
PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?
In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!
Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!
It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.
For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!
There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!
To Your Brilliance,
Brittany Brown
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