I battle binge eating and purging and insulin resistance and pcos page 2

[niah]

Almost everything I've read on binge eating says that any form of restriction will inevitably lead to a binge for those so inclined. Since you are not massively overweight, I would suggest 'learning' Primal eating, and simply trying to maintain your weight for a few months. By learning to maintain, you will also be able to identify the way you can cut back to lose without feeling restricted or deprived--the behavior that 'signals' the brain to create the urge to binge.

I'd also recommend reading Kathryn Hansen's Brain Over Binge for a good understanding the this behavior. The book is basically her own story, but she also had a website that offers further info and advice. But reading the book can be truly enlightening.

Thanks Emmie, yeah Im totally gonna get help or something!

[s-piper]

Oh man, I am you!
I also have PCOS and problems with binge eating. Purging...I used do what's kind of purging-lite. I have a phobic fear of vomiting which has kept me from being full blown bulimic, but I did used to fast and overexercise to 'make up for' binges. I fear so much that I've destroyed my metabolism doing that.
I'm also your height and have a large frame. Your weight, though, is the weight I'd like to get back down to.
Good luck with Primal. Hopefully it can help us both.

[BellaPorter]

Oh man, I am you!
I also have PCOS and problems with binge eating. Purging...I used do what's kind of purging-lite. I have a phobic fear of vomiting which has kept me from being full blown bulimic, but I did used to fast and overexercise to 'make up for' binges. I fear so much that I've destroyed my metabolism doing that.
I'm also your height and have a large frame. Your weight, though, is the weight I'd like to get back down to.
Good luck with Primal. Hopefully it can help us both.

I'm with you S-Piper. I have the same phobia of vomiting but destroyed my metabolism with fasting. I also have PCOS, Insulin Resistance, High Cholesterol and Fatty Liver Disease now...all of it from Insulin Resistance. I have 70-80 pounds to lose.

Hoping this WOE helps us all. I know I sure need to get this stuff fixed. Cheers and good luck to you and everyone else!

[abseven7]

Hi all-
I have struggled with binge eating disorder (no purging, but I exercise a lot--not necessarily as a purge--and that kept the weight down) for over ten years. I recently found out I have PCOS. My doctor recommended a low-carb diet and I landed on the Primal Blueprint, about a month ago, after a lot of research. Around the same time I discovered and read Brain over Binge. Although I know PCOS affects hormones and are a big cause of the binges, B.O.B. and the P.B. have offered me some amazing advice.
I gave Primal eating a try and stumbled after the first week, had some really bad binge days, but dusted myself off and have been eating a pretty strict Primal diet for the last 14 days. I have been binge-free in that time. Big credit to B.O.B.'s "bingeing is just a habit" idea, but also to Primal's filling me up with healthy, satisfying foods. It is easy for me to eat until satisfied and be under 2000cal for the day without trying. Other days I am above 2000cal but I don't worry about it.
I found your thread because I am craving a binge but am doing everything I can to hold off-- seeking inspiration online! I did some of the relaxing things I know help take my mind of the binge, and I have been distracting myself all day. I know I can keep it going.
Anyways, just wanted to say I am with you in the PCOS/B.E.D. situation! I know we can do this...

[JackieKessler]

I'm a former bulimic. I find that when I get too restrictive, no matter what my WOE is, that winds up leading to a massive, extensive binge that winds up spiraling into a truly terrible diet of poor-quality foods, junk foods and take-out. And in 2011, when I first went 100% into TPB, I wound up going (for me) too far by then going paleo and then Whole 30. At that point, I was probably borderline orthorexic -- I couldn't stop thinking worrying about whether the food I was eating was healthy enough. It was a terrible mindset, especially because at first it seemed so normal to be concerned. Eating disorders, they are sinister things! So I wound up getting within 1 pound of my then-ideal weight, and then boom, I hit the wall and binged, then went back to SAD/junk food/dessert for dinner.

Fast forward to now. I'm back to primal.

What I've been learning, slowly, over the past year, is to experiment and find what works best for me. I know that when I'm too restrictive, things don't work for me. I also know I feel better defaulting to eating primal. And I know that some foods are triggers or gateways to binging/feeling bad about myself, so they're on my "Think Twice Before Eating This" list.

So, for example, I have a loaf of Ezekiel bread in the freezer. It's there for when I absolutely want bread and don't want to make an oopsie roll. I have stints of having a serving of Ezekiel bread daily for a week or two, and then long periods of not having it at all. I even have a box of steel-cut oats in the pantry, for those very rare times I'm in the mood for oatmeal.

As I've been experimenting -- eating primal and non primal foods -- I've been asking myself if I'm actually enjoying the taste/flavor/feeling of what I'm eating. And so far -- with the one exception being Hagen Daaz ice cream -- I'm finding that SAD foods and sugary foods just don't taste good anymore. (That HD, though, that's deliciousness in a container, so it's on my "Only Once In A Great While" list for now.) The Ezekiel bread? Sometimes yes. Other breads? No -- they just don't taste good anymore.

The big thing I'm still working on is **not feeling bad about myself when I eat poorly.** This is still a work in progress for me, and I've found that allowing myself to listen to my body when I eat is very helpful. So far, primal (okay, primalish, because of the Ezekiel stints) helps. I'm learning.

And the cool thing is, because this isn't a diet, it's OK that it's taking me a while to figure out what works for me.

So if I may offer advice, it's this: Experiment. See what foods work for you, and what foods don't. Listen to your body and see how it handles different foods. And, above all, see this as a path to health -- and, just like when we're walking on a path, we may stumble once in a while, but that doesn't have to stop us from achieving our goal.

(Dang. Waxing philosophic!)

[abseven7]

What I've been learning, slowly, over the past year, is to experiment and find what works best for me. I know that when I'm too restrictive, things don't work for me. I also know I feel better defaulting to eating primal. And I know that some foods are triggers or gateways to binging/feeling bad about myself, so they're on my "Think Twice Before Eating This" list.

Hey Jackie,
I think there's a lot of truth to what you say, and I've already noticed just in the last 3-4 weeks that SAD foods, particularly refined starches, make me feel really nasty. I know this, yet as you probably remember from your disordered eating days, when a binge happens, I often find myself eating foods I'd never eat in my "right mind." This issue is quite separate from my "on-primal" eating, when it's easy for me to eat the foods that make me feel good and stay away from the foods that don't.
Anyways, I know it can be done! So far so good since my last post. I had a tiny cup of a chilled dark chocolate coconut milk thing that I make when I'm craving something sweet, and I'm calling it a night!