What To Do After A Binge or Overeating Experience

It was my junior year of Undergrad. I was going to the University of Vermont that required we take two physical movement classes within your 4 years. I chose to take weight lifting. I was told that it was the easiest class to take even though I had never lifted weights before. I did actually learn a lot about how to properly lift weights in that class but the class did not include instructions on how to nourish one's body when doing this kind of physical movement. I ended up with all sorts of symptoms simply because I did not know how to accommodate the body's new needs.

This led me to see my very first Nutritionist who worked on the school campus. I feel lucky that this Nutritionist was very open minded and not really about right and wrong thinking when it came to food. One day she told me,

"Stephanie, sometimes you're going to overeat and sometimes you're going to discover you didn't eat enough. And on the grand scheme of a whole month, you will be able to look back and see that you still got what you needed."

This has stuck with me since then. There is so much kindness and compassion and spaciousness in this guidance. We get to accept that overeating or binging is sometimes just a part of life. Nothing to judge about yourself here. This is going to happen from time to time and your body is going to be on your team supporting you in finding homeostasis again after this eating experience is over.

So, let's say you do have an overeating or binging experience. What then?

The hour after the food has been consumed and you notice yourself coming back to your body is crucial to dictate what will happen next. Let's go into the first potential scenario where you react how you always do. This might include harshly judging yourself, panicking about what you just did, planning what meals you might skip or a cleanse you might do in the next 24 hours to "make up" for the eating experience you just had, and perhaps also over-exercising.

This kind of reaction often pushes us further away from ourselves. Telling yourself that you have done something "wrong" sends the body into a fight or flight mode. The body doesn't know the difference between a real or perceived threat and so the increased anxiety and worry tells your body that something is wrong that it must protect itself from. Here you were, trying to support yourself in relaxing by reaching for food, and your reaction sparked the opposite feelings and sensations of potentially feeling even more exhausted by how you responded to your eating experience. That is one way to react to an overeating or binging experience. And if that is a reaction that happens, that is alright too. It takes practice and time to show up for ourselves differently.

I now want to offer a different way to respond to this kind of eating experience that leaves you feeling more connected and relaxed.

1. As soon as the eating is done, tell yourself that you have done nothing wrong. Your body has to know now that it is not in danger and everything is going to be alright.

2. Acknowledge what you received from that experience. You get the opportunity here to transform how you digest, assimilate, and process this experience emotionally. By stepping into gratitude for the food you just ate, you invite your body into a relaxation response, which is what you might have been striving to cultivate all along.

3. Close your eyes and place your hands on your belly. Take 3 deep belly breaths. Tell your digestive tract what it needs to hear. Let it know you trust it to digest the nourishment that just came in. That you appreciate it for all the hard work it’s doing right now to assimilate your food and that you will not abandon it as it works to support you.

4. Break out a journal and start to explore what that eating experience was here to teach you and what emotions were maybe needing your attention that you get to give them space to be heard and seen now.

5. Last, make a list of 3 self care acts you will engage in over the next 24 hours. Choosing to eat beyond the point of satiation can often be a coping mechanism. There was some part of you that just wanted to feel relaxed and safe and calm and in the moment food felt like the best option to do that. No shame. No judgment. No guilt. You get to trust that was actually the best decision you could have made with the awareness you had in that instant and you get to honor that the desire to still feel relaxed and safe and calm is probably still there. Committing to self care over the next 24 hours can support with satiating your emotional hungers and even appreciating your overeating or binging for reminding you to return to your self care.

This kind of post overeating and binging response can guide you into a deeper connection with you. What you ate is done. That moment has passed. You can bring your attention to this present moment now to reassess what reaction in this moment is going to feel nourishing and grounding and support you in knowing no matter what you are safe and everything is going to be alright. Remember to be so very gentle with yourself on this food and body adventure.