Dear Francesca:

You are welcome, and thank you for answering on the night before Thanksgiving. I am reading your answer on Thanksgiving Day, and I can’t think of a more appropriate time to read about not overeating/ bingeing. I have a long history of over-eating and I struggled with bingeing as well, for way too long.

You wrote that you have been healing your relationship to food by first admitting that you were bingeing and that it harmed you physically and mentally. You noticed what was happening when you were triggered to binge, becoming conscious and aware instead of “living on automatic.. unaware”.

When you felt a craving, you didn’t automatically rush to fulfill it, but instead- you sat down and breathed. You paid attention to the sensations in your body, the “‘waves’ of cravings”, not resisting those waves while not acting on them.

You talked to yourself, being your own cheer leader, “I can do this!”. You continued to talk to yourself about the consequences of the possible action of bingeing-  question:  “how would my body feel if I gave into this craving?”, answer: “I would feel miserable, bloated, uncomfortable and defeated mentally.. remembering how it really feels when I give into my cravings.. the reality actually”.

As a result of this practice, your “desire to act out diminishes”. You mentioned the acronym RAIN: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture: recognize what is happening; Allow the experience to be there, just as it is; Investigate with interest and care; Nurture with self-compassion.

In a reply to another member on a different issue, you wrote that you “overthink things a great deal” and the only thing that helped you has been “to get out of my head and obsessing over something… and to put my focus on sensations and trying to describe them to myself in detail.. I come out of my head and start to feel calmer and balanced and then I find I can approach something using both my head and heart and not just one or the other”- I am quoting your words because you state it so well. Mindfulness is a practice that can be applied to.. everything in life, a healthful practice.

Also appropriate to this time of year is the lovely Mindfulness Kit launched recently by the founder of Tiny Buddha, Lori Deschene- available on the Home page.

For anyone reading this on one of the biggest food day of the year, any one of the many people who struggle with overeating and/ or bingeing- I hope Francesca’s thread is helpful to you. And Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it.

anita