A Hack to Stop Your Next Food Free-for-All

How to find the treasure in your next binge or overeat.

Pearl One

When this smart eating hack occurred to me, it practically knocked my flip-flops off.

Let’s say you overate a little bit or maybe you overate a lot of bit.

Right here, at this feeling-gross-moment, is where the treasure lies.

I understand that you don’t feel good, but pull out your journal and write an email, a letter, or a journal-essay to your future self.

Feeling yucky-you can save future-you from more binging down the road. Of course, this method isn’t 100 percent, but it will go miles in addressing overeating or an actual binge. (It’s also an amazing habit to embed. Overeat? Write about it.)

Thrivers, we are in the zone of creating real change for ourselves.

Write at least a paragraph to these questions (this is not the time to be word-stingy).

• How do you feel – in your body — right now? (Ex: Stomach ache, want to throw up etc.)
• How do you feel emotionally at this moment? (Ex: I’m so mad at myself. I was doing so well around food and I messed everything up for what?! Margaritas and chips? Wendy’s note: try to keep in mind that you’re normal.)
• If you’re mad at you, what do you tell yourself at this moment? (Ex: I’m so dumb, what’s wrong with me, why am I so weird around food? etc.)
• If your internal voice is harsh and critical, where do you think you first heard this type of criticism? (Knowing is important not for blaming purposes, but so that we can address the criticism at its roots.)
• At that, stack the times in your adult life when you’ve been responsible. Stack at least five. Then do something you couldn’t do as a kid: talk back to the voice who called you names.
• Write at least three paragraphs on what you’d say to the voice who called you an airhead, again, all in your journal only (“I was twelve!” “I was still learning in life!” Who calls a child an airhead anyhow?!”).
• What you most want for future-you (give at least three ideas).
• What do you want future-you to know: (Ex: that it feels awful to overeat because. . .)
• Do you know specifically what triggers you into eating too much?
• How can you address the triggers so they lose their power?
• How do you wish you’d responded instead of overeating?
• How can you make it more attractive (from Atomic Habits) to stay the Smart Eating Path? (Ex: I can always keep my favorite healthy food on-hand, not get overly hungry, not talk to that combative family member on the phone when I’m too close to the binge food etc. etc.).
• Can you write suggestions re: what you wished you’d done instead of overeat?

The essential idea is to teach future-you about how terrible it feels to give in. And then give strong ideas that would better than overeating.]And last, revisit your letter as often as needed. Keep it front-and-center in your daily. ♥

Pearl Two

I can turn any food into a “bingeable.” Acknowledging to myself that I’d always use food to comfort, celebrate or numb-out is just how I’m built.

As you know, it’s cake over wine every time.

Acknowledging that I’ll always default head-first into food is an annoying thought, but I also know more about myself and can therefore handle the overeating tendency that much better. ♥

Pearl Three

June’s topic for the month: what cannot be an afterthought in our smart eating lives.

Today’s topic: we’re heading into summer vacations and planning how and what you’ll eat on the trip needs to be given serious planning.

I’ve been a travel writer for sixteen years now, and I never gained weight on trips. Having a solid plan in place and not winging it moment by moment gets all the credit. Whether I was traveling by car or plane, I knew exactly how the food-situation would go down.

Bottom line: Know before you go

Pearl Four

Our book-dessert slot!
You are owed an apology. And the Mountains Echoed by one of my favorite authors, Khaled Hosseini, should have been one of the first book-desserts I shared. The book’s genre falls under both “historical fiction” and “domestic fiction.”

Total honesty: if I’d read a description about this title’s plot I’d have thought, “pass.” But I’d already read Hosseini’s other two masterpieces — The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns – so I was all in. When I came up with the idea of book-dessert it was because of books like And the Mountains Echoed

So, that’s my review: 100 percent. (And again, my apologies.) ♥

Pearl Five

  “Living is the art of getting used to what you don’t expect.” Eleanor C. Wood ♥

If you haven’t yet read Aunt Bea, just shoot me an email: Wendy@WendyIrvineWriter.com! 🙂

♥, Wendy

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I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥