Binge Control with Keto
I was trying to explain to my husband the other day about an unexpected benefit I noticed of doing keto. Over the last four weeks I have had a definite reduction in my urge to binge. It's not that I feel like having a binge and I can talk myself out of it or that I have to exert effort to control it some other way. It's just that it doesn't come up. If I'm hungry I eat. Partway through a meal, even if I'm distracted by TV or conversation or whatever, it occurs to me to check if I'm satiated. If the answer is yes I stop eating, if the answer is no I keep eating. I'm not constantly thinking "I have to keep myself from having a binge" or "I have to remember to be mindful when I am eating".
My therapist said that the first step to recovering from binge eating disorder was learning to recognize my body's satiety signals. If I noticed I was full I could take that opportunity to stop but even when I was full I still wanted to keep eating. The urge to eat more was always there even when I could feel my fullness. I would only be able to stop a binge by constantly reminding myself to stop eating when I got full, but it would only work if I put the food away, brushed my teeth, and distracted myself with something else.
But first I had to be constantly mindful when I was eating. When eating carbs I would lose myself in the food. It has always happened to me. It's also a recurring theme when I hear other binge eaters talk. It's like, you want to eat so you start eating and then the next thing you know you are stuffed. Almost like you don't notice any time passing in between. It's been suggested to not do distracting things while eating but I would lose myself in the food even if I wasn't paying attention to anything else, like TV or a book. My therapist told me that if I ate mindfully then satiety would help motivate me to stop me eating past fullness. I had so much trouble putting any of that into practice because the food itself was incredibly distracting. Eating ketogenically I don't lose myself in the food anymore. I am aware, mindful, awake, whatever you want to call it. And then when I get a satiety signal, before I get stuffed, I am able to reassess honestly and push the food away easily if I'm done.
Before keto I used to say "I want to eat all the things." Now, with keto, I never feel that way at all. (I did want to "drink all the things" the other day after a bad day at work but I think that might be a normal reaction to a REALLY bad day at work and not a sign that I have a drinking problem now.)
So, I have a hypothesis. It's incomplete right now but maybe I can work on it over time. I need to do more research and self-assessment. I wonder if leveling out our blood glucose and insulin by reducing carb intake for extended periods can allow us to eat to satiety effortlessly, but having the constant spikes and peaks of blood glucose and insulin from eating high (Standard American Diet) levels of carbs is too much of a distraction that eating only to satiety and not past it takes super-human strength to accomplish.
Anyway, I know that insulin isn't the "hunger hormone" (it's ghrelin, actually) but it's done so much crap to me over the years I just want to blame it for everything. Damn you, insulin!
My therapist said that the first step to recovering from binge eating disorder was learning to recognize my body's satiety signals. If I noticed I was full I could take that opportunity to stop but even when I was full I still wanted to keep eating. The urge to eat more was always there even when I could feel my fullness. I would only be able to stop a binge by constantly reminding myself to stop eating when I got full, but it would only work if I put the food away, brushed my teeth, and distracted myself with something else.
But first I had to be constantly mindful when I was eating. When eating carbs I would lose myself in the food. It has always happened to me. It's also a recurring theme when I hear other binge eaters talk. It's like, you want to eat so you start eating and then the next thing you know you are stuffed. Almost like you don't notice any time passing in between. It's been suggested to not do distracting things while eating but I would lose myself in the food even if I wasn't paying attention to anything else, like TV or a book. My therapist told me that if I ate mindfully then satiety would help motivate me to stop me eating past fullness. I had so much trouble putting any of that into practice because the food itself was incredibly distracting. Eating ketogenically I don't lose myself in the food anymore. I am aware, mindful, awake, whatever you want to call it. And then when I get a satiety signal, before I get stuffed, I am able to reassess honestly and push the food away easily if I'm done.
Before keto I used to say "I want to eat all the things." Now, with keto, I never feel that way at all. (I did want to "drink all the things" the other day after a bad day at work but I think that might be a normal reaction to a REALLY bad day at work and not a sign that I have a drinking problem now.)
So, I have a hypothesis. It's incomplete right now but maybe I can work on it over time. I need to do more research and self-assessment. I wonder if leveling out our blood glucose and insulin by reducing carb intake for extended periods can allow us to eat to satiety effortlessly, but having the constant spikes and peaks of blood glucose and insulin from eating high (Standard American Diet) levels of carbs is too much of a distraction that eating only to satiety and not past it takes super-human strength to accomplish.
Anyway, I know that insulin isn't the "hunger hormone" (it's ghrelin, actually) but it's done so much crap to me over the years I just want to blame it for everything. Damn you, insulin!
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