Why Is There Not Much Help For Binge Eating Disorder (and if there is, where is it?)

Jox

I don't drink fruit juice, I juice vegetables occasionally like cucumber and celery.

My problem isn't from fruit it's all the man-made processed stuff that's cheap and devoid of vitamins and minerals.

The answer for me must be not to have anything processed and sweet in the house and to stop going to the kitchen at work and to say no to the croissants every Friday..

I haven't read this book but I've read good reviews

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Poison-Why-Sugar-Making/dp/0670072478

Wish I was as intelligent and logical as you fire fox, you sound very knowledgeable, I need someone like you with me all the time to stop me making bad choices and self-sabotaging

mazza111

one thing my sis felt useful for getting sugar was a frozen yoghurt. Just one of the muller ones, and put in the freezer, but because she had to take her time with it, she ate 1 instead of 6 when she was on a downer. She like you was a binge eater and could sit and eat a 12 pack of crisps at once. It is a mental health problem, any eating disorder is. I think if it was me, I'd be finding a new GP and one who could help.

Can I ask, do you ever feel full? My sis didn't, and was always the first finished her meal too. She's now learned to eat a lot slower (most of the time) which has helped. She's been in counselling for years though and it's took a while to get this far.

Hope you find something that works for you

Mx

Fire_Fox

Jox wrote: »

Sorry to take the focus off oopsa and on to me (but I identify with oopsa) I don't need to beg, borrow or steal to get sugar, the kitchen at work has tons of sugar, there's chocolate, tracker bars, fruslli bars for us to help overselves to and every Friday we are given almond croissants and chocolate croissants at work, how can I say no? I always take 2 as well...

I have jam and honey at home (ok, so I better stop buying it).

When I was younger and lived at my parents', if I couldn't find chocolate or sweets I would add water to icing sugar and eat loads of that. My parents would buy multi-packs of yogurts and I would take all of them to my room and scoff the lot. I bought loads of cadbury creme eggs for family and friends one Easter and then proceeded to eat them all myself.

I pass out from eating too much sugar some evenings. I ate a big bag of jelly babies recently and went into a sugar "coma".

I wake up feeling groggy, I want to phone in sick every day but I force myself to get up and go to work. I look and feel awful, then I think eff it, I might as well eat this cr*p or drink this sugary drink as I'm already so low.

The sugar gives me bad breath, I get thrush which I think is from over consumption of sugar (candida?), I feel dizzy and depressed.

Yes, only I can help myself, but for me it's easy now to stay away from cigarettes and alcohol but not so easy to stay away from sugar.

My gran was an alcoholic and my mum is a sugar addict so I think it's in my genetics as well.

I'm off to library to look for self-help books!

So what steps are you taking/ have you taken to
1. change what is available at work? Have you sought a medical diagnosis then asked the bosses and your colleagues for support in addressing your sugar-related health problems? Have you considered presenting evidence that so much sugary rubbish is bad for the health of all the staff, bad for attendance, productivity and concentration?
2. change your mindset, have you considered counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnosis?
3. stabilise your blood sugar, fill yourself up before and during work so you don't want these foods or much less of them? EVERYBODY has a point where if they eat another bite they will puke and even yummy food or drink start looking unappetising. If you have ever seen 'Man versus Food' the presenter calls it the food wall.
4. keep piles of healthy low carb/ sugar foods with you at all times and bargaining with yourself to eat at least some of those first?
5. stay out of the kitchen, are you entering just to get the junk or 'to make tea'?
6. seriously looked for another job?

There is always something you can do, always. Start with throwing away all sugary foods and high glycaemic index foods from your own kitchen. Fill your cupboards, refrigerator and freezer with proteins, non starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds and so on. Stop buying fruit except the lowest sugar stuff like berries. Eat a MASSIVE mostly savoury breakfast daily including protein, fats, fibre and water - three whole eggs, four servings of non starchy vegetables, porridge substitute from here, more food if that still is not enough http://www.marmaladeandmileposts.com/archives/category/food/sane/breakfasts

You don't have to be perfect from day one, any changes you can make is a step in the right direction so don't play games with yourself saying you have failed so you might as well eat everything in sight. Think consciously about traps like that, write down arguments to the contrary. If you have an addiction you won't break it by eating sugar daily BUT eating half as much sugar and replacing that with nutrient dense foods should reduce your physical health risks/ symptoms over time. You have to take steps to fix this before you become type 2 diabetic, because then the stakes are even higher - blindness, loss of a limb, disability, death.

Fire_Fox

Jox wrote: »

Wish I was as intelligent and logical as you fire fox, you sound very knowledgeable, I need someone like you with me all the time to stop me making bad choices and self-sabotaging

I am sure you are in your own field of work, imagine what a pig's ear I'd make of the work if let loose in an office or onto a building site!

cockaleekee

oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »

How do you know I've ignored it? I have been back to the GP to discuss the binge eating, as I said - i have already posted my response from him in earlier post on this thread - and by what i posted in the thread that cockaleekee linked to.

I have also seen a second GP in the practice (I made sure I made an appointment for when I knew my normal one was off because they won't let you see another if yours is in) and he referred me back to my usual GP, after agreeing with him in that he thought my binges were 'normal' and down to depression.

I left after that appointment certainly feeling low. I also phoned my private health cover provider and they won't deal with it unless I get a pyschiatric referral - which my doc wouldn't give because it doesn't feel it is appropriate.

Also, how can you say I'm not addicted? I get cravings that i act on - just like a smoker, drinker or druggie.

I have already said i appreciate that i probably need to nourish my body properly in order for my cravings to lessen. I have attempted to do this by making my homemade healthy cereal bars, homemade veg soups, homemade meals. I also understand that I am still not getting this quite right which is why I am asking for further help.

I believed (obviously wrongly) that my yogurt, grape and nut breakfast was healthy. These are just small examples of the things I have tried to do.

You will also note that my last post in that thread was at the end of Nov...my aim to find help with this took a back seat to christmas busyness and work changes...and Cleggy, before you say it, it was not used as an excuse for me to go and binge. I had a lot on at that time and didn't have the strength to follow things up again.

To be fair, even if I had, I don't know how I would(or will) seeing 2 docs from my surgery have been little help.

Cleggy - of course you are free to post where you like but your responses are futile really. You're not offering any constructive advice so you may feel it appropriate now to stop wasting your time on this.

@Cockaleekee - think this response to Cleggy will double up as a response to your helpful(?!) post.

Two medical professionals have told you that you do not have binge eating disorder, yet you continue to insist you are right and they are wrong. Another excuse for not taking control?

What good do you think a diagnosis will bring? I have had bulimia for twenty years, I have never received assistance with it - I learned how to manage it myself.

You are still failing to address all these excuses you keep making. Stop focusing on some pointless diagnosis and start taking responsibility for your own choices. That is what your dietary habits are, your own personal choice.

daska

cleggy. wrote: »

She's not addicted. It's a habit that can be broken easily when effort is made.
Everything is relevant, even you :rotfl:

Judging by her previous thread it seems she may be addicted to asking for advice then ignoring it.

So, you've read her threads and you can't see the connections between her medical condition, weight issue and craving for a specific type of food? Do you understand what PCOS is? How it affects the body? Metformin? Insulin resistance? Have you ever tried the Cambridge Diet and experienced just how much will-power someone has to have to stay on that?

I would suggest that you develop a healthy dose of thankfulness that your weight issue is proving really easy for you to deal with and if you can't come up with helpful and relevant advice then try saying nothing at all.

oopsadaisydoddle

daska wrote: »

So, you've read her threads and you can't see the connections between her medical condition, weight issue and craving for a specific type of food? Do you understand what PCOS is? How it affects the body? Metformin? Insulin resistance? Have you ever tried the Cambridge Diet and experienced just how much will-power someone has to have to stay on that?

I would suggest that you develop a healthy dose of thankfulness that your weight issue is proving really easy for you to deal with and if you can't come up with helpful and relevant advice then try saying nothing at all.

Thanks for this!

@Cockaleekee - I am not saying the doctors are wrong - and I'm not saying I necessarily want a label for it. Just that I'm asking for help and not getting any. I'm glad you have been able to manage your issues yourself. Maybe I will be the same in time.

I don't set out to binge, sometimes it's like I'm hardly aware of it - that tends to happen at times of stress and i suppose, it's like a coping mechanism.

Can I ask what excuses you think I'm making?

As I have explained, over the years, i have tried to control my eating. by doing SW, WW Cambridge and the like. I have stuck to these until the weight stopped coming off and then ended up back where i started. I now come to realise that this has been the wrong way to go about being healthy. I always focussed on the weight loss, not the nutrition.

And although my GP has not said I have an eating disorder as such, the lady I spoke to at the national centre for eating disorders (sorry it wasn't b-eat as i had previously thought) said it sounded like it was.

Also, just because you manage to cope with your issues, doesn't mean everybody is the same. If that was the case, there would be no need for b-eat and all of the other organisations dedicated to anorexia, bulimia and BED.

oopsadaisydoddle

Also, it's obvious from other posts on here that there are plenty of people who are in a similar situation and if this thread can offer any assistance (as it has to me already), then I'm glad i started it.

I am on citalopram for anxiety which started 3 yrs ago after having DS. My meds manage that well. So although I'm on medication for depression, I'm not depressed anymore. My maintenance dose keeps me ticking over happily.

I do suffer extremely low self esteem and am always thinking my weight and appearence is 'what i am'.

I have read over all of the posts and am going to form a plan of action using all of the information people have been kind to post.

sophlowe45

What i have tried to do is replace sugar with xylitol. I started off using a little but now i use a lot of xylitol as i have gone from one cup of tea a day to numerous cups of tea a day. I don't know how much difference this makes but i only use St. Dalfour jam.

I have tried replacing foods from reading your posts Fire Fox and making lots of notes, i only have organic rolled jumbo oats, organic rye bread, lots of tins of different beans, oatcakes, ryvita, rice cakes, tinned sardines, full fat organic milk, organic eggs, peanut butter etc. (organic eggs i can really taste the difference).

I still binge eat, i can think about Coca Cola for a whole day until I can't take it anymore and go off to buy it, same with crisps, chocolates and chips, i can spend the whole day thinking about eating them, during conversations i have with people, i am thinking i really want chips and coke!! I find it too hard to resist. I don't keep any junk food at home as i would eat or drink it immediately (this includes orange juice i drink the entire carton). I only have it when its been hours or even more than 24 hours and I still desperately want that item of junk. I will eat even when i feel i cannot eat anymore, my stomach has bloated so much and it really hurts, i will carry on eating.

I am also not liking the taste of ricecakes, oatcakes, i can't stand the tinned sardines or even tinned tuna.

I also really wish there was binge eating rehab we could check into, have controlled meals and not have the option of eating or drinking anything else, while also learning how to cook and prepare for life after rehab.

Thanks for starting this thread oopsadaisydoddle.

Fire_Fox

sophlowe45 wrote: »

What i have tried to do is replace sugar with xylitol. I started off using a little but now i use a lot of xylitol as i have gone from one cup of tea a day to numerous cups of tea a day. I don't know how much difference this makes but i only use St. Dalfour jam.

I have tried replacing foods from reading your posts Fire Fox and making lots of notes, i only have organic rolled jumbo oats, organic rye bread, lots of tins of different beans, oatcakes, ryvita, rice cakes, tinned sardines, full fat organic milk, organic eggs, peanut butter etc. (organic eggs i can really taste the difference).

I still binge eat, i can think about Coca Cola for a whole day until I can't take it anymore and go off to buy it, same with crisps, chocolates and chips, i can spend the whole day thinking about eating them, during conversations i have with people, i am thinking i really want chips and coke!! I find it too hard to resist. I don't keep any junk food at home as i would eat or drink it immediately (this includes orange juice i drink the entire carton). I only have it when its been hours or even more than 24 hours and I still desperately want that item of junk. I will eat even when i feel i cannot eat anymore, my stomach has bloated so much and it really hurts, i will carry on eating.

I am also not liking the taste of ricecakes, oatcakes, i can't stand the tinned sardines or even tinned tuna.

I also really wish there was binge eating rehab we could check into, have controlled meals and not have the option of eating or drinking anything else, while also learning how to cook and prepare for life after rehab.

Thanks for starting this thread oopsadaisydoddle.

Sorry to hear that. Are you eating healthy fats plus a good serving of protein (20-30g pure protein) at every meal and snack? And moderating servings of starches? Are you filling up on seven to nine portions of non starchy vegetables? Is changing your eating helping somewhat or not at all?

I've definitely never advocated rice cakes nor rye bread, rice cakes are high GI processed rubbish and rye bread can be low or high depending on the product. I most often encourage beans lentils and barley for blood sugar stability and reducing cravings because they are the lowest on the glycaemic index. Rye and oats are healthy, but they are higher on the GI scale (not as high as much processed wheat, rice, corn and white potatoes). Some find it best to avoid all grains.

Are you any good with fresh oily fish? I don't recommend it as often as canned due to cost and convenience. I adore trout and many love salmon. Xylitol is great stuff. :T