So you want to feel healthy, but you don’t want to diet, you just want to eat normally, you either binge or you’re on a diet, there’s no in-between.
You fear you can never stop binge eating, that you will just be stuck in food prison for the rest of your life. That was me for over 13 years. I felt like I was stuck in an endless cycle, always on or off a diet plan.
I hated going on a diet because I hated knowing that somewhere along the line I would mess it up, it was only a matter of days or weeks before I would binge again.
I have tried over 25 diets since I was 15 and what I realised was that I was just doing the same thing over and over again.
Three years ago I stopped dieting and finally recovered from binge eating, I learned how to stop the obsession with food and my body
What I realised through my recovery was that it’s possible for you to stop dieting, while also taking care of your health and feeling good.
Here are five tips to stop dieting, and still be healthy.
Gentle nutrition
Aim for a wide variety of foods. Showing up for your body with a wide variety of foods is one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Nutritionally, this helps to ensure that you are providing your body with a variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, preventing any nutritional deficiencies. And from a psychological standpoint, eating a variety of foods will help you feel less restricted and deprived and could lead to greater food satisfaction.
Challenge and change negative thoughts
95% of the thoughts we think are the same day in and day out if these are negative. And these are telling you that you are not good enough, smart enough, skinny enough, you might as well stop trying because you’re not worth it.
This will repeat every single day. Awareness is key when challenging your thoughts.
Honour your hunger and fullness
Make sure you never allow your body to think that there is a possibility of starving. Before my health journey, I would live off cigarettes and coffee during the day and in the evening binge on a full chicken and 2 potatoes followed with a bottle of wine!! Trust me this is a recipe for disaster, make sure you have regular meals and snacks handy during the day!!
Feeling fullness only happens when the body is properly fed. Once you feel full, it’s important to let your body and mind know that it’s okay to stop eating. Recognize when you are comfortably full, and honour that.
Move in a way that feels good
Instead of exercising to change your body shape or lose weight, allow movement that makes your body feel good. Find exercise and movement that you enjoy. Instead of exercising for hours because you think you should find movements throughout the day like stretching every time you get up.
What’s healthy for one person isn’t healthy for another. Moving how we think we should rather than how our body wants to is not only physically damaging but mentally exhausting.
Stop dieting
It’s causing you to binge!! This is one of THE most important principles in binge eating recovery. Diets don’t work, 95% of dieters fail as they are not sustainable. Diets also make people miserable and the constant Yo-Yo effect slows down your metabolism. Once you eventually let go of the diet rules, the “don’t eat” foods will become a lot less irresistible.
I have a quiz to help you stop binge eating based on your binge eating personality
Figuring out your binge eating personality will help me develop more individualized strategies around food and your feelings for you so that you can build strategies against those urges in the future. You can take the quiz right here https://wholesomelifestyleproject.com/work-with-me/quiz/
Stel coombe-Heath is the #1 authority in helping busy women stop binge eating. She is on a mission to help a million women have a better relationship with food and their body.
Stel Coombe-Heath is a transformational health and life coach, cognitive-behavioural therapist, podcast host and soon-to-be-published author. Her primary focus is helping women with binge and emotional eating, self-esteem, and body image.
From a background in business analytics, Stel now leads various programs on changing mindsets around life and eating.
As a holistic health coach, Stel infuses cognitive behavioural therapy mindfulness and emotional resilience into her consultations with clients. Stel’s sessions encourage clients to dive into self-transformation through self-actualisation.
Website: https://wholesomelifestyleproject.com/
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Podcast: https://kite.link/Beyond-Overeating-by-Wholesome-Lifestyle-project