Hey All!

I became a raw vegan last Sept. and it was the best decision of my life. However, one thing did not change in my life that I excpected to...my relationship with food. My WHOLE life I have been an emotional eater. The LAST reason I ate food was because I was hungry.

So when I was introduced to raw, I figured that I would not overeat anymore...well I was wrong! I would binge on the gourmet raw food and forget about if I got near cooked food at 12 in the morning!

Even though my body and mind were feeling better on raw, my soul was still suffereing.

I am writing this post beacse I have FINALLY found a book that helped myself and can also help you if you have an unhealthy relationship with food "Overcoming Overeating" by Carol Munter.

They explain why people have these relationship with foods and they explain how to fix it. Its great!

P.S.: Keep in mind that binges come from the soul, not from the stomach. So when we overeat we are trying to fulfill our souls by over-filling our stomachs. Please feel free to ask me questions! Love you.

Love you,
Jamie

I stopped binges in my mind, once you do something in your mind, lik eeat a donut, even in your MIND..you will do it in life, so I have never even thought of eating or tasting anything, and if I do, I say EWWW I would NEVER eat that, just to myself.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2007 05:49PM by coconutcream.

I've been a food binger for most of my life. Mostly it is linked to depression and anexity. In 1981 I reached the bottom with a failed marriage, job dissatisfaction, a bad case of artist's block and an overweight condition that topped out at 227 pounds on a 5 foot 5 inch frame. I was dying and I knew it. My wife and I agreed to divorce. Living alone, I slowly began to move towards regaining my health and focus on discovering a healthier lifestyle.

It has been a long and interesting 25 year path that led me from a SAD lifestyle to raw vegan. I lost and regained weight several times which finally began to stabilize when I transitioned to raw. Presently I weigh around 125 lbs (that's a whole person I lost) But, all along the way my binging stayed with me---I just was binging on healthier foods.

I began to practice yoga about 9 years ago, not just the hatha (physical movement) yoga, but more of a traditional practice that addresses body, mind and spirit. That, coupled with my shift to a raw diet which has evolved to a low fat and protein, high fruit diet founded on Natural Hygiene principals, has propelled me towards the healthiest, most vital state I have ever experienced in my 55 years with this body. And I'm not done yet.

As I began to release the anger I stuffed inside, the depression bouts have subsided and the food binging has become less frequent. I came to the realization that food binging was about numbing myself out so I could not feel the emotional pain of my approach to life. I kept trying to practice denial and self-dicipline with food binging and always failed, which usually led to self-judgement, more anger, more pain and more depression. It was a circular path. When I began to embrace that I alone was the cause of my reality, things began to shift.

Do I still binge? Yes. Is it different? Happily so. The desire to binge is now a wake up call to take a look at what's going on in my life and take positive action. I feel like my path is now spirialing upwards rather than a circular rut that goes nowhere.

Sometimes I consciously allow myself to experience the binge and take responsibility for the consequences. The consequences are far less damaging to my healthy state these days and I seldom feel wacked out for more than a day. Gourmet (high fat) raw recipes or simply cashew nuts are my favorite binge foods, which is sure better than the old days of alcohol, meat, french fries, and processed snack foods. I just have a different point of view about it all and see each experience as a place to learn something new and grow.

Growth and learning are my antidote to boredom.

Love and Good Health To You,
Uti

I appreciate everyone for sharing this. It's hard to come to terms with such a thing. I binge myself. Less frequently than ever and I'm glad. Just last night I was bored, didn't know what to do with the time I had, so found some foods to eat. Later I thought about how I could have spent that time differently. Yeah, live and learn. Live and learn. These lessons have been so slow in coming. I've been doing this for years and years, most of them without knowing just what I was doing to myself! Unbelievable. I have been doing this binging thing less and less often, and they're more mild than in past years. I don't even know what to attribute this to. Meditation? Yoga? ?? Don't know but I'm sure glad. I've also read a couple of books. One was "When Food is Love" by Geneen Roth, and the other was "The Small Book" by Jack Trimpey, a guy who used to be a core member of AA.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Hi Troy, did you like "when food is love"?

Hi Uti, i feel you on your story...last night I binged but i was mindful of it so I didn't binge that much. it actually felt good.

ugh! yesterday was a trial for me.i was at my daughters house babysitting my little grandsons and they were having bacon for breakfast and i had to cook it and it reminded me of my southern granny making biscuits and salt pork slabs to put on the biscuits with real butter and swigging it with cold milk.and jam of course on the biscuits.then later i baked the kids chocolate chip cookies.so i realized i overate yesterday cause i so wanted some of that stuff.i did not-but i did eat too much of the raw and healthy stuff. maybe it was cause i took the kids sledding and up the hills and back down and then we ran and had snowball fights.maybe i was just hungry but for trying to loose weight.it was not a good thing.made me discouraged.UTI-WHAT A GREAT SUCCESS STORY.THANKS FOR SHARING.IT WAS WONDERFUL.ALSO i see i have some reading to do.thanks Troy-i will find those books and give it a read.taylor