How much do you love food?
Why do you love it so much? Other than because it tastes amazing.
What does it do for you?
Usually the reason why we desire food, or anything, so strongly is because of what we think it will do for us. We think it will bring us pleasure, happiness, comfort, or any other feeling we’re seeking. And it does for a short time, but once we realize that eating all that crap was in fact a bad decision, all those feelings go away.
There’s nothing wrong with loving food, and we naturally desire food to live, but when you desire it too strongly, that’s when it can become a problem.
A big difference between people who binge eat and people who don’t is that binge eaters have a stronger desire for food. So part of what needs to be done to overcome binge eating is to lessen the desire.
How do you lessen desire?
Well, desire is a feeling and since our thoughts create our feelings we need to learn to think differently about food.
What do you find yourself thinking about your favorite binge foods right now? Again, other than that they taste delicious. This is a surface thought and not the real reason why you want it so badly.
Do you think pizza is the greatest thing to ever exist?
Do you think ice cream will always make you happy?
Do you think you can’t live without chocolate cake?
Look at those thoughts and see how desirable they make the food seem. But in reality, none of these are true. I would hope there are greater things than pizza in this world, nothing makes you happy except you, and yes, you can live without cake.
It’s just food. Yet you’re putting it on this pedestal to make it seem like the most important thing in the world.
It’s these kinds of thoughts that are causing you to want food so badly.
We try to change our desire for these foods by not eating them, by removing them from our lives, but this can backfire hugely if we then start to obsess about them and feel like we’re depriving ourselves of their goodness. But if it does work, it’s because we realize how our lives are without them, that we don’t need them and they aren’t as important to our lives as we thought. Essentially, it’s changing how we think about the foods. You don’t need to eliminate them from your life to make this mindset change, and I actually recommend you don’t unless you really want to and for reasons other than because you’re scared to eat them.
Start with becoming aware of why you want it so damn much. Stand in front of that food and see what thoughts about it pop up. Then decide if those thoughts are the truth or if you’re exaggerating the power of the food.
In reality, other than giving us energy and nutrients so we can live, and a little dopamine hit in the brain, it has no power.
Stop giving it more credit than it deserves, it’s just food.
Pay attention to why you desire food so much. See what you’re looking for it to do for you. Whatever it is that you’re looking for, there is most likely a healthier way to find it besides eating, a way that will indeed give you what you’re looking for for real. Go find that other way.
