A series by Green Mountain alum Jacki Monaco on her journey to overcome binge eating. Follow her every other Thursday as she blogs about the victories and challenges of repairing her relationships with food, her body and herself.
For the last few weeks I’ve been toying with an idea that has seemed out of reach for me the last twenty-four years (well let’s call it twenty and give my parents some credit for my early years of nourishment). I’ve heard about it, read about, and seen it in action but I’d never experienced the untouchable rule that binge eaters like my self strive to follow- feeding the body instead of the mind.
I hate to give any credit to “the bug” that has been traveling from one unsuspecting host to another over here in LA but I do have to say thank you to my dramatically titled sinusitis. The whole “I-can’t-even-swallow-my-own-thoughts-let-alone-solid-food” thing gave me the space and time to really identify my hunger cues.
When I’m healthy and bored I tend to eat to fill up that space and time, but when I was sick and bored I knew it was time to click the next Netflix victim or rest my weary bones.
I guess I’m not so much crediting the bug as I am my own body for re-introducing this concept to my mind- that eating past the point of fullness is, without question, uncomfortable. Since I’ve been on the mend, I’ve taken the calmness my body felt while sick and have been using it as an example for how I’d like to feel all the time- not bloated, comfortably full, nourished with the right foods and amounts. Even though I had already transitioned to a more well-rounded diet of leaner foods, more vegetables, and less gluten, I can honestly tell you now that I was still eating past my level of hunger.
Whether it’s with organic food from Trader Joes or Big Macs from McDonalds, overeating is overeating and binging is binging. Might the effects on our body vary depending on the type of food? Yes. But can our hungry, anxious minds tell the difference between food groups when we’re not eating for our bodies, but stuffing our minds?
Emotions and clocks need to no longer dictate how, what, and how much we eat. It’s time to start fueling our vessels instead of polluting them.
How does your body feel today?
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