Binge Eating

[wacky~jackie]

I was eating tons of food right after going gluten free. But it felt like I needed the food, so I just decided to go with it...as it turns out, I have lost weight after gluten-free, and nowadays I don't feel the need to eat that much anymore. So i figure it was just my body craving nutrients, after being starved for so long, and now that I'm pretty much healed, everything has balanced out.

Pauliina

I am soooo glad to hear that!! I have only been gluten free for a whopping 48 hours!!! However, I have been STARVING. I'm trying to avoid anything processed. After reading a few of the posts, I think I probably need more protein. I am very hopeful that I will lose some weight and then have things balance out. I am learning from many of you to avoid the gluten-free breads and sweets.

[penguin]

I am soooo glad to hear that!! I have only been gluten free for a whopping 48 hours!!! However, I have been STARVING. I'm trying to avoid anything processed. After reading a few of the posts, I think I probably need more protein. I am very hopeful that I will lose some weight and then have things balance out. I am learning from many of you to avoid the gluten-free breads and sweets.

The best way to avoid the gluten-free breads and sweets is to just not try and replace the gluteny stuff. Use lettuce leaves or corn tortillas for bread. Just don't look for replacements, and get used to them not being there, and you'll be fine

[Nancym]

I've been making my own gluten free buns with egg, almond meal, flax meal and little coconut flour (optional), baking powder, xanthan gum. I mix it until it is about like pancake batter in consistency then I pour a little bit into a lid of a very small casserole dish (about the right size for a bun) and microwave it for 30 seconds or so. It puffs up and makes a nice 1/2 of a bun.

The great thing about it is it doesn't spike my blood sugar or set off any sort of binge eating and is very filling. I toast them lightly (sometimes) and make avocado/tomato sandwiches or slather with peanut butter.

Only problem is... I hate running out of them!

[Kaycee]

I tended to overeat before my diagnosis. I just can't seem to overeat now. Either I don't feel like it, or else there is just not enough of anything I would care to overindulge with. After eight months, I am glad to say I have got to the stage where there will never be any more overeating in my life. I can never imagine being 90 kilos / 14 stone again. I now am 78 kilos and loving it.

Like someone says, I eat to live, not live to eat. I think that describes exactly my relationship with food.

But then there are days, about once a month, when I am totally frustrated and want to eat chocolate, and I do, last night was one of those nights, but I only ate between 50 to 100 grams (not the whole 200gr I would've previously eaten) and I was happy with that, I know now I will never eat too much, because then I would get sick. Must admit I have never had a sweet tooth, so that has helped in so many ways.

[Lexis]

I never had a binging problem until I went gluten free, now after dinner (sometimes earlier) I always crave brownies, cookies, etc. If a have a mix or any in my freezer I make a batch and eat half a pan. The next day I'll finish them because I know they are there. But then for the rest of the week my cravings are gone for a few days. Then the cycle continues.

[gfp]

I agree with you 100%. When I was eating gluten, it definitely set me up for cravings and binging on things. Wheat/gluten has addictive properties too, which probably explains why America eats so much of it, every day, almost every meal. Gluten druggies!

I haven't read the whole thread but this is what I believe.

The body only has one way to say you are missinhg something and that is to give the hunger feeling (technically its two different mechanisms but...)

Whether this pang is caused by nicotine, gluten or a vital nutrient its all the same.

One thing to address is nutrients, if by changing you diet you are missing nutrients then your body will just signal it needs feeding.

The other side of the coin (and what makes it so difficult) is if it is used to dealing with a toxin (caffine, nictotine and gluten) it gives the exact same signals.

What to do about it:

Its your body: you control it not the other way round.

First off make sure you are getting all your nutrients ... be 100% sure about this then you can be 100% sure to tell yourself "I don't need to eat"

As far snack foods.. just don't buy them at all.

If you are in the middle of something and walk to the fridge then put a sign on the fridge... I can't tell you how many times i do this.. i get up .. walk to the kitchen and tell myself "I do not need to eat" and walk back.

But you need to believe this in yourself....which is why making sure that you have all the nutrients is important.

The first feeling will go away after 1-2 minutes and not reoccur for another 40 or so. The second mechanism is less nagging ...

[Kaycee]

The body only has one way to say you are missinhg something and that is to give the hunger feeling

Gfp, I tend to agree with you.

Before being gluten free I had terrible problems with the amount of food I needed to eat. I was always hungry. It is very hard to fight hunger. It nags at you until you eat something. I did control it, and managed to loose a couple of stone in weight, but was always hungry, that is why I was quite discouraged when I was dianosed as being coeliac.

For a terrible moment in time I panicked. I thought, well this is it, just the thing to make me put all that weight back on again. But I was wrong thankfully, because within a week of being gluten free, I did not have that horrible hunger that was part of me before. I was so blown away, where did the hunger go? I wished I had found out what was wrong with me years ago.

As I have said before, I have not put the weight back on, but have not lost anymore either, but at least I don't feel the need to raid the fridge. I remember naively thinking when I was a teenager, I wish there was a reason why I was so big. (I never got over 14 stone, that is big, but not overly big) Well I found the answer years later.

All the way through before diagnosis, my iron etc levels have been not too bad, the only thing commented on was when I was pregnant, I was low in iron, and was put on supplements, and then again last year, my iron levels were low but not really a problem, I could always take a supplement, or not worry about it, said the practice nurse. I took a supplement.

So it would appear all those years of being hungry probably paid off, and that I have not suffered from any other illness due to deficiencies in my absorbtion of minerals and vitamins.

Going by what you say, I probably am getting all the nutrients I need, but I do take supplements, but I am so pleased I do not have to eat anymore (not to excess).

I don't think I was addicted to gluten, but I did have addiciton problems with cigarettes, but that was long ago.

Cathy

[majicbunnies]

I get times where I overeat the things I can eat. It eventually turned into bulimia though. It's not as bad as it used to be. Just make sure you stay healthy.

[Scheherazade]

My experience with bingeing is that it usually happens when you're missing something in your diet. That may be obvious in the case of someone with an eating disorder who eats nothing for a day and then binges on "bad" foods, but less obvious in people who feel like they are eating enough. But a lot of the time, you may have a craving which you try to indulge with the wrong food. The wrong food won't give you what you need, but you keep eating and eating hoping it will satiate you.

I used to have a lot of cravings in the evenings for stuff like chips, chocolate, ice cream, etc. But I've been trying to keep track of things I've eaten that satisfy these cravings. For example, one time I was convinced I wanted ice cream. I hadn't eaten dinner that evening. There was no ice cream so I made myself a roast beef sandwich (not gluten-free at the time) with cheese on it. And the combination of the meat and the cheese satisfied my urge for fats.

The problem with being gluten-free is that it's easy to skimp on your carbohydrate intake, and your hunger for carbs and fibre can make you eat the wrong things to try to satisfy yourself. One day I had just eggs for breakfast, without any carbs. For lunch I had a salad with chicken and cheese, but again no grains or starches. By 2 pm I was starving, and so I was eating handfuls of walnuts. I was still hungry, had a chocolate bar. Had a chocolate milk. And by dinner, I was craving greasy tacos - not because I really wanted the junk food, but because it was a grain. So I ate tacos and rice and for the first time all day I felt satisfied.

I think with a gluten-free diet, you should ask yourself whether every craving isn't just a craving for grain or starch in disguise. Before you open the Doritos, ask yourself, would a bowl of rice or potatoes make you feel better? If you're lactose-free, are you craving fats? Could you eat a few plain nuts or an egg to satisfy that craving? And when in doubt, just follow the old diet tip: if you must indulge in junk food, eat something healthy (piece of fruit, egg, nuts, salad, glass of milk) before hand, and then if you're still hungry then indulge away.

[majicbunnies]

My experience with bingeing is that it usually happens when you're missing something in your diet. That may be obvious in the case of someone with an eating disorder who eats nothing for a day and then binges on "bad" foods, but less obvious in people who feel like they are eating enough. But a lot of the time, you may have a craving which you try to indulge with the wrong food. The wrong food won't give you what you need, but you keep eating and eating hoping it will satiate you.

I used to have a lot of cravings in the evenings for stuff like chips, chocolate, ice cream, etc. But I've been trying to keep track of things I've eaten that satisfy these cravings. For example, one time I was convinced I wanted ice cream. I hadn't eaten dinner that evening. There was no ice cream so I made myself a roast beef sandwich (not gluten-free at the time) with cheese on it. And the combination of the meat and the cheese satisfied my urge for fats.

The problem with being gluten-free is that it's easy to skimp on your carbohydrate intake, and your hunger for carbs and fibre can make you eat the wrong things to try to satisfy yourself. One day I had just eggs for breakfast, without any carbs. For lunch I had a salad with chicken and cheese, but again no grains or starches. By 2 pm I was starving, and so I was eating handfuls of walnuts. I was still hungry, had a chocolate bar. Had a chocolate milk. And by dinner, I was craving greasy tacos - not because I really wanted the junk food, but because it was a grain. So I ate tacos and rice and for the first time all day I felt satisfied.

I think with a gluten-free diet, you should ask yourself whether every craving isn't just a craving for grain or starch in disguise. Before you open the Doritos, ask yourself, would a bowl of rice or potatoes make you feel better? If you're lactose-free, are you craving fats? Could you eat a few plain nuts or an egg to satisfy that craving? And when in doubt, just follow the old diet tip: if you must indulge in junk food, eat something healthy (piece of fruit, egg, nuts, salad, glass of milk) before hand, and then if you're still hungry then indulge away.

Sometimes, for me, it doesn't matter what I eat. Sometimes I don't crave. I just stuff my face. It's the act of eating that's satisfying I guess. I get into a trance. That's usually during a binge/purge episode.

[chgomom]

Yeppers!

I find something that works well for me....be it gluten-free cookies...breyers...and it like a box...not just 4 cookies ya know...

[PreOptMegs]

I never had a binging problem until I went gluten free, now after dinner (sometimes earlier) I always crave brownies, cookies, etc. If a have a mix or any in my freezer I make a batch and eat half a pan. The next day I'll finish them because I know they are there. But then for the rest of the week my cravings are gone for a few days. Then the cycle continues.

ditto

[jlr0622]

I love this site - no matter what I am struggling with I can find the topic and other strugglers here!!! YES, the "binge" has become my biggest problem and I believe the cause of my 15lb weight gain!!

Thank you all so much for sharing this and your suggested ways to avoid. This topics can be so frustrating until you share them and learn you are not alone

Janet

[Shawn]

I have always been a binge eater - I was bulimic in my younger days. But I wasn't dx until later, and I believe all of my EXTREME binging was due to celiac.

Now I eat healthier things (except for tortilla chips). I do have the problem of not getting bloated or realizing when I'm full. Very weird. I used to determine how full I was by how tight my pants were! My body seems to know what it needs now, or maybe I'm just listening!

I am hungry all of the time, so I eat more often, and that's probably another reason I'm not totally binging like I used to. Also, my favorite foods (cookies and cakes) are off the list, so I can't binge on them anymore. The gluten-free stuff doesn't appeal to me.

Shawn

[katrinamaria]

before being gluten-free i never had a "sweet tooth"... i was more of salty person and just had the occasional reece's PB cup. NOW, i pretty much devour/crave anything chocolatey. and ice cream too. i also eat till i'm uncomfortably full which i never used to do. before i was bloated from gluten...now i'm bloated from overeating. i read the book "intuitive eating" which is by 2 drs/nutrionists and it is a good concept i think, but i'm still having trouble. i agree with others--if it's there & gluten-free i'll eat it. and also that you just get in a trance kind of. after a binge i'm like, ok, i just devoured excess calories and for what? i barely even tasted it.... it's kind of depressing and i'm trying to follow the concepts in "intuitive eating" (honor your hunger and fullness). but it is hard. however, i do recommend reading the book if you're having trouble with binges. i can give anyone the specifics about the book if they're interested. good luck everyone--