Disclaimer: I struggle with binge-eating. Struggle- not struggled.
These are strategies I developed to fight a ridiculous and painful problem, and I am writing this article with the intention of translating them into something useful for the average person.
Each tip is so easy as to be marginally useful, but it’s your body, and you should take no recommendations blindly. Keep trying, and see what works.
Imagine “bad eating” as walking 100 steps. These tips are meant to be like hurdles. Small barriers make bad eating much harder.
The first two are meant to be taken together. In a way, all three are inseparable. They are simpler than any diet.
Tip 1: The Un-Journal
Keep a food journal, but don’t use an app or calorie tracker. Just snap a picture of your food before you eat it.
The purpose of this is threefold:
It forces you to take a break before you begin to eat.
Taking the photo makes bad eating slightly less desirable. (and voluminous/green eating more)
You can do broad, simple check-ins on your eating behavior without micro-managing
The latter is probably the biggest advantage this has over a standard journal. I can look over my day without feeling insanely guilty, but when I come back months later I can spot clear trends.
For example, I’m gonna compare a day from a couple days into the journal to a day from this month.
Yeah… The first day seems almost unbelievable to me at this point, but I didn’t even notice I was making changes until months in.
Tip 2: Pre-Meal Peace Poem
When you eat meals or snacks, take deep breaths and recite a peace poem. Out loud!
Mine goes:
“In this food, I see the universe Caring for me And for my existence”
(This short video explains practice poems well. I recommend the Plum Village app for a deeper guide to breathing meditations.)
While you do this, try to reflect on the food or meal you have ahead of you.
Apart from the obvious spiritual benefits, the secret purpose of this tip is to make you self-conscious. A healthy dose of self-consciousness draws you away from eating junk, and keeps you from forgetting about your photo journal.
In another sense, this is a way of staking your claim on good health with every meal. If you aren’t eating healthy yet, you will build an expectation of yourself as a healthy and mindful eater.
Tip 3: Healthy People Are Decisive
As a kid, I thought that billionaires had some extra up-to-date nutrition science that normal people didn’t.
“I mean, Bill Gates HAS to have some doctor feeding him meal plans, right? He can’t just eat like a normal person.”
But that’s not true. The smartest, richest, and healthiest people in the world are remarkably consistent. They choose boring whole foods.
That’s it. “Boring whole foods” is the most consistently healthy diet in the world, and is supported by leading obesity research, which widely finds that food tastiness and variety plays a key role in sustained weight gain. It’s no coincidence that most diets can be rephrased as eating fewer interesting, calorie-dense, or processed foods.
So, what’s the tip?
Well, you don’t have to transform to a health guru overnight, but recognize that you can arbitrarily decide the line at which a food is too gluttonous to have around or buy.
We all have this line, but for most people it’s closer to a nonverbal instinct that says three patties is too many for a burger. My sense is that it helps to have a stated framework for where you stand on most foods.
If you reflect, your line probably warns you not to decorate your desk with open bags of chips, or that eating McDonald’s in your car as dinner is regrettable. My personal line is that if a food is more palatable and convenient than making unsweetened cereal with almond milk, I’ll eventually binge. It’s a simple rule, but remarkably consistent.
Once you define your line, you can lower it by taking action when you would otherwise follow habit. Throw away snacks when they take up too much of your diet (subject to your preferences). Alternatively, serve yourself in small bowls instead of idly snacking.
As always, the key is not to restrict, but to increase the resolution of your decision-making in a way that is more resilient to stress or demotivation.
Bonus tip: count your chews
I chose to leave this one off since it’s so common, but it really works! Specifically, it forces you to take your time with disappearing foods like protein bars, nuts, or certain desserts.
Try playing a game with yourself where you try to chew to a certain amount of bites. It’s fun, and I found myself doing it without even trying.