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 Post subject: Questions about 5 Steps with FOOD! Help please.
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:21 pm 
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It has been strange/difficult to try and apply the five steps to food--when I get into binge mode, it's really just a question of how many times I will fill the bowl with cookies and pour milk on them.

I felt very condemned after applying the steps, "Problem: I felt HUNGRY and wanted to be sedated. Choices were eat bowl of cookies n milk, eat veges, or go to bed. The best choice would have been to eat/drink the veges, but I ate the milk n cookies because it felt good."

I am also confused by Step 1: HALT. Do I only try to apply the 5 steps when I am Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired? Are these four conditions/emotions/feelings when we are more likely to exhibit BPD symptoms?

Thanks much!
thesea



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 Post subject: Re: Questions about 5 Steps with FOOD! Help please.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:47 pm 
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I have a problem with binge eating, too, it kinda runs in the family. It's really hard because food is such a basic entitlement, you feel really violated when you feel like someone or something is trying to deny you your food. It's also not something that you can go cold turkey on and reapproach when your head's on straight.

That said, a little bit of hunger can translate into consuming a lot of calories' worth of comfort food if you don't try to separate your emotions from your physical needs. I think HALT is just a reminder to take a moment and figure out what you are really experiencing--this might apply more to not throwing a fit on someone just because you're hungry. You said that the problem was that you were hungry and wanted to be sedated. Were you hungry and just happening to want sedation to accompany it, or were you in 'binge mode' and wanting sedation? In that case, elevating your blood sugar with milk and cookies (as opposed to veggies) would do more to alleviate your feeling because you would get a little high and then crash out. The milk and cookies "worked" better and tasted good.

When I get the urge to eat like that, it's not hunger. It's more like a craving for drugs or alcohol. It's not my body telling my mind that it needs some calories for sustenance; it's my mind telling my body that it's about to be stuffed with carbohydrates, because I had a crap day and I gotta get some kind of buzz before I start doing SI, and the following "hungry" sensation is more of a Pavlovian response.

So, Step 2, determining the problem. The problem might be something you'd have to dig a bit deeper for. Why do you want to be sedated? What will eating the milk and cookies do for you? Will it calm your nerves? Will it help you fall asleep?

That would totally change the options you have for step 3. Your choices could be to do some journaling to try and get at the root of the problem, to chat with someone about your day, to eat veggies to alleviate your hunger, to distract yourself with some form of entertainment, to go to bed, or to eat the milk and cookies and deal with things later.


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 Post subject: Re: Questions about 5 Steps with FOOD! Help please.
PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:30 am 
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Thesea,

Hmmm, if vegetables is too hard of an option how bout a different one: granola cereal. Healthy alternative, fills the stomach so you won't wish to continue with the binging.


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