Confession: sometimes I binge on junk food.
I used to spend entire days saying horrible things to myself after doing it, I never got to the point of vomiting but I did think about it more than once.
It’s amazing that sometimes we do not see that the feelings of guilt and self-flagellation after the binge can be even more harmful than the binge itself.
Here you can read how my relationship with food and emotions has evolved, which is also closely linked to my relationship with my body image (in fact, I don’t think I’m the only one).
When this happens, it is important to remember several things:
BE KIND TO YOURSELF
First of all, what you eat when you’re down doesn’t define you, and it doesn’t change your value as a human being. You are valuable no matter what you eat (or stop eating or drinking! I will not go into the subject of criticism when someone does not want to drink alcohol at a social event… should I even dare to open this debate?). So please be nice to yourself and don’t beat yourself up.
Second and very important: do not be tempted to use it as an excuse to throw away everything you have achieved so far. If you hadn’t smoked for a month and suddenly you smoke one cigarette, are you going to start smoking every day just because of that? Wouldn’t it be better for your physical and mental health if you resume your healthy habits, instead of abandoning yourself? Are you really going to let that moment when you fell into temptation dominate what you are going to do from now on? I used to think that was stronger than me, but it turned out not to be true. And if I could (me, the Queen of Excuses!), believe me, you can too!
Third: DO NOT COMPENSATE! What has happened is not the end of the world! To begin with that “compensating” does not exist. I know you’d like to go back to the moment before you binged, but time travel hasn’t been invented yet, so I’m really sorry but you can’t! “Compensating” gives you the false feeling that you are going back, but this is not the case at all, and since we also tend to even try to starve ourselves or eat only salad and relatively boring things with the intention of undoing the transgression, we are actually making it worse. You are entering a dangerous vicious circle and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to get out of there than wherever you are right now.
Trust me! I have 35 years of experience with this topic! If you have enjoyed reading this, subscribe to my newsletter for more content like this!
