Being in the house for a few months can really take a toll on one’s mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.  I mean prior to this lockdown that many people are in you had your daily routine.  You knew you were going to work and coming home at a certain time.  You knew you were traveling for work and/or traveling because it brought you joy.  However things changed in the recent months.  Many people lost their jobs, some even having to line up to receive unemployment.  This time in life has been uncertain and stressful for many people.  

Maybe this time in life has been uncertain and stressful for you as well.  Your entire world has been flipped upside down.  Maybe you have a family and now not only do you have to work from home, you have to take care of your children 24/7 because they are not in school.  Whatever it may be many people are turning to food to cope with their stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.  When you are home it is extremely easy to eat pretty much everything, but this can pose serious danger to your health.

When you binge eat this can throw a hunger hormone off called, Leptin.   Leptin is important for regulating your hunger signals.  However when you binge eat on a daily basis your gut will interpret that as your daily routine.  It will then constantly tell your brain that you are hungry all of the time.  This can be dangerous because it will cause metabolic diseases, such as Metabolic X Syndrome and Type II Diabetes.   It can also make you gain weight and visceral fat.  Visceral fat is that thick fatty tissue located under the abdomen.  To stop binge eating, avoid metabolic diseases and drop those pounds you can incorporate these 4 tips below:

Root Cause

In order for you to stop binge eating you need to know why you started.  Take a moment before you grab that pint of ice cream that you may think will solve all of your problems and on a piece of paper do a quick brain dump.  Dump out all of your current feelings.  From that brain dump, make a 3-4 bulleted list.  Then from that bulleted list target the number one thing that is stressing you out.  Lastly, eliminate that stressor.

Drink Water

Instead of going for those foods and binge eating, drink water instead.  When you drink water you are lining your gut to flush out any toxic waste.  You are improving your digestion, and because your body is made up of mostly water, you are giving it the proper hydration.  This will also boost your mood and your immune support in the process.

Eat When You Are Hungry

Stomach growling, shakiness, and being hangry (hungry and angry) is actually not an indication that you are hungry.  This type of hunger is considered toxic hunger.  Toxic hunger occurs when you eat processed foods and junk foods that are void of nutrients.  Eating empty calories can ignite the above symptoms.  True hunger can be felt in the throat where digestion begins.  Digestion begins in the esophagus when consuming food.  Only eat when you are truly hungry to avoid overeating.

Exercise

Exercise of any kind is a great stress-reliever.  You can go for a walk, do jumping jacks, do push-ups, and whatever exercise you like.  Instead of going for the food, go for the movement.  Move your body for at least 30 minutes each day.

Although it is the easiest option to binge eat when you are: bored, stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed it can pose serious health risk and won’t solve your problems.  In fact, it will make these problems worse.  Getting at the root cause will allow you to progress forward.  I highly recommend doing a daily brain dump of your mood so you can progress forward.  Checking in with yourself is super-important to eliminate the stressor in your life.

Water is your main source of hydration and supports brain health.  Make sure you are drinking at least 32 oz. per day to give you energy, boost your mood, and ensure proper digestion of the foods you intake throughout the day.  When listening to your true hunger signals you will be less likely to overeat.  Getting in tune with your body is crucial to losing weight and keeping calm.  Doing daily exercise will do wonders for boosting your mood and turning your body into a fat-burning machine.  You don’t have to do a difficult workout, just some movements that you absolutely love. 

I hope you incorporate these 4 tips and kick binge eating to the curb.

Are you struggling with binge eating?  Let me know in the comments!

About Avishai El

Avishai El specializes in natural healing and is a Holistic Health Coach, Certified Raw Food Educator, Amazon Best-Selling Author of “The Power of Why:  Why 23 Women Took The Leap To Start Their Business”, + Podcast Host of Avi Unfiltered.  She teaches open-minded, empathic, professional, and entrepreneurial women how to get rid of stress, drop the pounds, and create the life they deserve.  

You can enroll in her 3-month Eat Stress Away Program here:

www.eatstressaway.com/enroll/