binge eating

There are generally two triggers to an eating binge. Either you're on a diet and your body needs the extra food or you overeat because you're trying to suppress some emotion-stress, loneliness, depression or angger," says Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., director of the Human Nutrition Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "Either way, the end result is usually feeling of guilt."

"I tell my patients who binge-eat when they're angry or depressed to write down their feeling in a letter thay don't intedn to send," says Karyn Scher, Ph.D., director of training for the Graduate Hospital Eating Disorder Service in Philadelphia.

"one reason why women are much more likely than men to go on eating binges is because our society has trained them to supress their anger or other 'negative' emotions. SImply write how you feel, or pen a sample dialogue as those feelings," suggests Dr. Shcer.

Beside keeping you from bingeing (both your mind and hands are occupied). this technique has another benefit: You'll learn healthier ways to deal with negative emotions.

If you binge-eat out of boredom, it may be a sign of loneliness or social isolation, so Dr. Scher suggests you call a friend or relative. "I tell my patients to create a phone chain with at least six people they can call when they feel lonely or bored."

The next time you get a food craving, make yourself wait 20 minutes before you succumb. Most food cravings that aren't due to hunger will subside in that time. If not - if you're still hungry after 20 minutes - then you probably do need food.

"Ideally, you should do something that's incompatible with eating, such as taking a walk,: suggests Linda Crawford, a certified eating disorders counselor at Green Mountain at Fox Run, a weight management center in Ludlow, Vermont.

Walking and other forms of aerobic exercise are among the best ways to kill food cravings, adds Dr. Scher. Vigorous exercise may break a cycle of stress-induced bingeing. Lots of people report a sense of physical well-being after 20 minutes of aerobic exercise that offsets the urge to binge.

Even if emotion rather than hunger is driving you to eat, drinking lots of water can help - by freshening your taste buds and filling your belly, which reduced your food cravings, according to George Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Nutrition/Metabolism Laboratory at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston

"A lot of people set themselves up for binges by restricting their food while dieting," says Dr. Scher. "When you skip breakfast and have nothing but a salad for lunch, by the time dinner rolls around, you're literally starving for food and will eat anything and everything. But if you consume three sensible meals each day - even while dieting - your body won't experience this intense starvation, and you'll be better able to control nighttime binges."