Binge eating - Is this for me?

[jlb8634]

Are there any binge eaters out there who have had success on SB? I'm afraid that having no limits would have me eating huge amounts of everything. I've always joked that a serving for me is whatever comes in the container. So, food choices aren't my biggest problem - I eat pretty healthy. Portion control is my biggest issue. Seems to me, SB would not be a good choice for me - but it sounds so good. Am I wrong?

[Magna]

In general, SBD is a very healthy way of eating, and you can lose weight and see overall improvement even eating quite a lot of food. It is important to control the portions of some calorie-dense foods, but others (especially vegetables) are unlimited. People are often surprised at the big quantity of food they eat, and that they don't go hungry.

I recognize that "binge eating" means different things to different people. To some people it just means they enjoy eating a lot of food. To others, it means eating past the point of satiation, like an addiction. SBD is just a healthy way of eating, not a cure for addictions (although some people here have said it brought their unhealthy eating patterns to the forefront). There may be other issues involved in binge eating that I'm not aware of, too. I would suggest you talk it over with your doctor. He or she is in the best position to decide whether something else in addition to (or besides) SBD is a good plan for you. Best of luck to you!

[Kimboroni]

I agree with Magna. For instance, if the bingeing comes completely from emotional issues, then SB may not help much. But if there is any compenent of wonky blood sugar leading to it (and you may not even be aware of whether or not it is), then SB should be of great help. The idea is that you eat balanced meals regularly enough so that you don't let your blood sugar drop too low and drive you to making some not so good choices and/or overeat.

You may also learn some things about healthy eating that will help you. I know that I thought I ate pretty healthily pre-SB. I hardly ever ate sweets, and I ate a lowfat diet, and I made sure to get in the 6-11 grain servings that the food pyramid said we needed. I also thought that I ate vegetables. It turned out that 6-11 grain servings is way too many for me, that a low fat diet isn't so good (some added good fats are important), and that corn and potatoes are starches, not veggies. Overdoing the grains/starches isn't much different to your body than eating sweets.

So by changing my proportions and eating lots of low glycemic vegetables, and adding in those important good fats, I was able to gain better control of my eating and not keep going back for more low sugar cereal or bread. My body has thanked me for that in so many ways.

[allornothing]

Hi Kimboroni, I was interested when you said, "Overdoing the grains/starches isn't much different to your body than eating sweets."
Is that connected with something I read on this forum about if you have a large meal that increases your blood sugar levels a lot, your body treats it as access calories and stores it as fat, regardless of the overall amount of calories you eat over the day (or something like that)...(and I know we don't count calories).

I know there are so many 'science bits' underlying the diet that I get confused. I've read the first book and was inspired by it. The Supercharged book I have, but only dip in to it to remind me of food lists - I preferred the first book.

[Kimboroni]

Kind of. All carbohydrates (starches and sugars) are converted into glucose when you eat them-- that's how your body uses those foods for energy. It's the same process for low glycemic veggies, whole grains, starchy veggies, table sugar, dairy, etc. If you eat a normal amount of healthy carb options, that isn't a problem, since the conversion is done more slowly (the fiber etc. slows it down) and your system doesn't get overloaded with the glucose.

But if you have too much glucose in your system at once by eating too many carbs and/or the wrong carb choices, it blocks the fat burning enzymes and activates the fat storing enzymes. Then it doesn't matter what your overall calorie intake is. The body is tricked into thinking it's been overloaded with calories. If you ever watch The Food Lover's Diet infomercial, they have a pretty good explanation of that. It works on some of the same concepts as SB, but (I think) is too permissive with the "eat all your favorite foods" selling point and doesn't stress things like whole grains enough. But it is very well marketed and has some nice explanations with good visuals.

[arleneangle]

SBD is just a healthy way of eating, not a cure for addictions.

[Magna]

SBD is just a healthy way of eating, not a cure for addictions.

That is a quote from my post. Were you agreeing, or did you want to explain further?