Whether you’re trying to stop binge eating or lose weight, I want you to take a hot minute before you turn to food restriction, because the truth is – it doesn’t work.
 
I released a video on this topic and reviewed the main reasons why food restriction doesn’t work. I also shared some tips on how you can learn to use food for health and hunger–without food restriction–and finally stop binge eating.
 
Check out the video here:
 

 
Here’s the gist of what I covered:
 
Food restriction creates binge eating.
 
Binge eating is a natural reaction to food restriction. When you’re in restrict mode, you are all up in your head. It’s likely that you’re seesawing between obsessing over food and being riddled with shame.
 
When you don’t restrict your food, the chances of binge eating goes WAY down. Instead of restricting your food,  feel into your body and learn the difference between physical hunger cues vs. emotional hunger cues.
 

 
Don’t label foods as good or bad.
 
Sooo many people do this. But think about it – when you label a food as bad and then you eat it, you internalize it, and then create stories about how you have no willpower, you’re not good enough, and a bunch of other BS that’s simply not true.
 
Remove the labels, and instead get more intune with your body and really pay attention to how eating certain foods makes you feel. Intuitive felt sense wins out over counting calories and restriction every day of the week.
 
For me personally, I know that when I eat lots of junk or sugar, I feel like crap. But when I eat healthier foods high in fiber and protein, I feel really good and energized.  Bottom line: your body doesn’t want ice cream, it’s your mind that’s addicted to the ice cream. Get in touch with your body, and it will tell you the answers you need to know. You’ll never be able to trust yourself if you are restricting and making all of these rules and labels around food.
 

 
I also wanna share with you the ninja strategy that literally changed the game for me and helped me truly get back to using food for health and hunger:
 
Breathe.
 
Breath drops you into the moment. When you’re present, you can better decipher between physical hunger cues vs. emotional hunger cues. When you breathe, ask yourself, “Am I actually hungry?” And if you’re not, ask yourself, ”What am I hungry for?”
 
Once you have awareness and identify your behaviors, then you can transform.