Dear Tati:

I still suffer anxiety around food because of my history of eating disorders. Binge eating was a very painful experience for me and I still fear it.

I learned that indeed, severe restriction leads to severe overeating/ bingeing. So avoid severe restricting.

I also learned that I got so attached to eating because it is so pleasurable. As a child, my life experience was so miserable, so much of the time, that food was the break I craved- and still crave- from that misery.

What I really wanted all along is to feel good. This is the valid message in my craving food: I want to feel good.

The title of your thread is “Why do we self-destruct?”- as in by bingeing. My answer: because we are afraid, afraid of feeling as badly as we already did, and wanting so desperately to feel good, safe, content, unafraid.

anita