Blog 18 - Binge Eating Therapy

Body Image…

leora fulvio July 26, 2007

When we listen to the needs of our bodies, eat nurturing, healthful foods when we are hungry and stop when we are satisfied, we settle into our natural weight. Our natural weight isn’t fat, nor is it skinny. So, thus the conundrum, many women (and men) find their natural weights displeasing. Why? As we all know, the media portrays certain unrealistic body types as desirable, but why is it that some people are susceptible to that kind of pressure? Is it

PMS!

leora fulvio July 9, 2007

Month after month, my clients come in after suffering miserably for the whole week before their periods, wishing they could take back the previous week, having binged the whole week before. What is it about PMS that makes us so bingey? I can’t tell you that I know what makes us get to the point that we’re eating a bag of lays, a box of cupcakes and a whole pizza, but I can tell you that it makes our hormones

Anxiety

leora fulvio June 14, 2007

I can’t tell you that I fully understand anxiety. I’m not sure why some people are controlled by their anxiety and some people are fully able integrate life into their day-to-day without being ruled by anxiety. Anxiety is fear on caffeine pills. Often times, binges come out of anxiety. The flood of seratonin that you get from the binge will help calm you down. Hellish bliss. Because then, comes all the anxiety from the binge. Did I just make myself

Anger

leora fulvio June 5, 2007

Women are pretty. Women are sweet, petite, and certainly not angry. Did you grow up thinking that? I did. I would either completely avoid my anger (starve myself) or stuff it all down (binge). I would then deny that I had any anger, “I’m just not an angry person,” I’d tell my therapist. Now, when clients say that to me, and they often do, I remember how difficult my own process, of accepting and navigating my anger was (and continues

Trigger

leora fulvio May 31, 2007

In food recovery, we talk alot about triggers. When one of my best friends was recovering from bulimia, she ritualized the act of cleaning out the cabinets, cupboards, refrigerator of all her binge foods, or “triggers.” While getting food out of the house is can certainly be a helpful ritual– the cleansing of the surroundings, the control and empowerment involved in that action; it is not the one act alone that will put an end to the food issues. First off, most

Binge!

leora fulvio May 30, 2007

Has it ever happened to you? It’s day 1 of your diet. Again. You have the best intentions, you’re finally going to lose that weight and be thin and happy and now your life will be perfect. Your first day goes great. You’ve stuck to your plan 100%. Maybe another day or two goes by and then, all of a sudden, you do something “wrong”. You eat a cookie, a potato chip, it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s something