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The Binge Cure: 7 Steps to Outsmart Emotional Eating

@the.binge.cure

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📕 The Binge Cure (20K copies sold)
by @drninahelps licensed psychotherapist
Take the Emotional Eating Quiz👇

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Hi 👋🏼 I’m Dr. Nina

I see some new faces & thought it's a good time to re-introduce myself & share how this account can help:

✨ I started this page to help women who feel like they're missing out on life because they struggle with food, binge eating, and a relentless inner critic

✨ I'm the creator of The Binge Cure method, which I developed after a decade in clinical practice as a psychoanalyst and certified coach helping people all over the world take back their lives from binge eating

✨ I've written three books, including my bestselling book, The Binge Cure: 7 Steps to Outsmart Emotional Eating

✨ My other books are Food for Thought: Perspectives on Eating Disorders and Beyond the Primal Addiction. A new book (Food Matters) is coming out next year. I've also written articles for Psychology Today, Psyche, National Eating Disorder Association, Eating Disorder Hope, and many more. I've been featured in over fifty articles, radio shows, and podcasts, including a guest appearance on The Dr. Drew Podcast (episode 304).

✨ I was once the poster child for eating disorders. I battled and overcame binge eating and bulimia, so I know what it's like to be stuck in the madness, and that food freedom is possible.

✨ To work with me, I offer a 12 Week Inner Circle private coaching program and the Binge-Free Babes group, as well as psychotherapy/psychoanalysis. DM for more info.
Plus, I have a special new program coming soon!

✨ This page is a place for you to get inspired on your journey to a binge-free, happy life. I'm here to help you banish guilt and shame, end the obsession with food, and take back your life. I'd love to hear your stories and successes, as well as your struggles, on your way to liberation.

✨ I'm married to the love of my life. We have two daughters and a 165 pound Great Dane named Zane, a goofy, giant lapdog (he's the other love of my life!).

YOUR TURN 👇🏼 Where do you live? What's something you'd like to share about YOU?

#introductionpost #drninasavellerocklin #pyschoanalyst #thebingecure #bingefree #bingeeatingsupport #stopbingeeating #emotionaleatingsupport by @the.binge.cure

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4 years ago

food feels more dependable than people... that’s because relationships come with risk.

People disappoint you. They misunderstand you. They can reject you, criticize you, leave you, or simply not be there in the way you need them to be.

Food is always there for you. You don’t have to risk hearing no. You don’t have to explain what you need. You don’t have to wonder if it’ll be there for you.

So if you’ve learned that needing other people leads to disappointment, food can feel like a safer way to get comfort, pleasure, or a sense of being taken care of.

That’s why simply telling yourself to “stop emotional eating” misses the point.

A more useful question is:
“What do I need from other people that I’m afraid to ask for?”

Maybe it’s comfort. Affection. Attention. Reassurance. Connection. Or knowing that someone will be there when you need them.

Understanding that need doesn’t mean you can never eat for pleasure or comfort. It means you can start recognizing when you’re turning to food instead of reaching for something you need emotionally.

Want to understand what’s really driving your emotional eating? Comment HEAL and I’ll send you my free Emotional Eating Quiz to help you identify your pattern.

#emotionaleating #foodfreedom #relationships #psychoanalysis #psychologyofeating by @the.binge.cure

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4 days ago

I’m a psychoanalyst specializing in food psychology and I help people stop binge eating for good. You’ll never, ever, EVER hear this from me:

❌ “Keep your trigger foods out of the house.” The more forbidden a food is, the more you think about it. Banning it from your kitchen doesn’t calm the craving, it builds it. When you can’t have something, it takes up all your attention, until you finally get it and can’t stop. Deprivation sets the binge up. It doesn’t prevent it.

❌ “Just stop eating when you’re full.” If you’re eating for a sfeeling, fullness isn’t the point. You can be completely full and still want to eat, because the hunger isn’t in your stomach. Emotional hunger isn’t satiated by food.

❌ “Save it for your cheat day.” Cheat days are code for diet culture. Food is neutral. You don’t need a designated day to be allowed to enjoy whatever you’re eating.

I don’t start with your kitchen, your fullness, or your rules. I start underneath, with the reason you’re turning to food, which you may not even be aware of yet. Because food is never the problem. It’s the solution to something.

And sometimes what it’s solving is the feeling that you’re not good enough. That you’ll be found out. That everyone else has it figured out and you don’t. That’s imposter syndrome, and those are exactly the kinds of painful feelings that send people to food.

I recorded a training on this topic: The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating. Follow first, then comment WEBINAR and I’ll send you the link.

#bingeeating #emotionaleating #bingeeatinghelp #intuitiveeating #foodfreedom by @the.binge.cure

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5 days ago

If you keep losing weight and gaining it back... maybe a part of you is afraid to be smaller?

For some people, being in a smaller body doesn’t just mean looking different.

👉It means being noticed. 👉Getting attention. 👉Feeling exposed. 👉Being objectified.

And if being seen or desired has ever felt unsafe, part of you may associate becoming smaller with vulnerability.

That creates a psychological conflict: consciously, you want to lose weight. Unconsciously, staying at a certain weight may feel protective.

So you diet. Lose some weight. Then something changes.

You turn to food and regain the weight. You tell yourself you’ve failed again.

But what if you stop asking, “Why do I keep sabotaging myself?” and ask:

“What am I afraid might happen if I lose the weight?”

Maybe the way out isn’t more control over food.

Maybe it starts with understanding what the weight means to you.

If you’re interested in the hidden psychological reasons you keep turning to food, comment WEBINAR for access to my talk, The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

#emotionaleating #foodfreedom #selfsabotage #psychoanalysis #psychologyofeating by @the.binge.cure

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6 days ago

You want to eat one slice of pizza and be done. Instead you keep going, and when you finally stop, you hear the voice in your head accusing:

“You have no self-control.”

1️⃣ The moment you decide pizza is “bad,” you want it more, not less. That isn’t weakness. The anticipation of being deprived of it is what makes you overeat. Trying to control it does the opposite.

2️⃣ Notice it says “YOU have no self-control,” not “I.” That’s the tell. It’s easy to be mean to yourself in the second person.

3️⃣ That inner critic is horrible, and you might be eating to escape your own mean voice. Afterward comes the remorse, the “what’s wrong with me,” the feeling terrible about yourself. So you reach for food for comfort. Rinse and repeat.

The pizza isn’t the problem. Your relationship with yourself is. Make peace with that, and the pizza takes care of itself.

Be honest: are you kinder to everyone else than you are to yourself? Tell me below. 👇

That same mean voice is behind imposter syndrome. Follow first, then comment WEBINAR and I’ll send you my talk on the surprising link between the two.

#emotionaleating #bingeeating #innercritic #impostersyndrome #foodfreedom by @the.binge.cure

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7 days ago

If everyone thinks you have it together... but no one knows what happens with food when you’re alone, this is for you.

Maybe you’re accomplished. Dependable. The person everyone counts on.

You get things done. You take care of people. You meet expectations.

And then there’s the version of you no one sees.

The one who waits until everyone is asleep to eat.

The one who hides the evidence.

The one who promises in the morning that tonight will be different.

Those two versions of you may seem completely disconnected, but psychologically, they can be two sides of the same conflict.

When so much of your identity is organized around being capable, successful, responsible, or “together,” you may become very invested in making sure no one sees anything that contradicts that image.

So instead of asking yourself why you keep doing this with food, ask:

“What am I afraid people would think of me if they really knew me?”

That question may have a lot more to do with what happens at night than the food does.

If you’re successful on the outside but struggling with food in private, comment WEBINAR for access to my talk, The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

#emotionaleating #impostersyndrome #foodfreedom #psychoanalysis #psychologyofeating by @the.binge.cure

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8 days ago

If you can’t stop thinking about sweets even after you’ve eaten a meal... maybe you need more sweetness in your LIFE.

Not the kind that comes from sugar.

The kind that comes from love. Affection. Connection. Pleasure. Fulfillment. Meaning.

We often think a craving tells us what we want to eat.

From a psychological perspective, it can also tell us something about what we want to feel or experience.

So if that bowl of candy keeps pulling your attention back, don’t immediately make it a battle over whether you’re going to eat it.

Get curious.

Ask yourself: “Where am I missing sweetness in my life right now?”

👉Maybe you’ve been taking care of everyone else and getting very little in return.

👉Maybe your relationship feels disconnected.

👉Maybe your days are productive but not fulfilling.

👉Maybe you’re accomplishing a lot but enjoying very little of it.

The goal isn’t to talk yourself out of eating the candy. It’s to understand why it has so much importance in that moment.

Because sometimes what looks like a craving for something sweet is a longing for something sweeter.

What kind of sweetness are you craving most right now: connection, affection, pleasure, or meaning?

And if you’re successful on the outside but struggle with food internally, comment WEBINAR for access to my talk, The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

#emotionaleating #foodfreedom #impostersyndrome #psychoanalysis #psychologyofeating by @the.binge.cure

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9 days ago

Here are three reasons behind late night cereal cravings:

1️⃣ You want to feel taken care of. Cereal can represent nurturing and being looked after.When you don’t know how to give yourself that, you turn to food instead.
 2️⃣ You’re trying to get away from something. Eating keeps your attention on the cereal instead of the thought, conversation, task, or feeling you don’t want to deal with.
 3️⃣ You don’t know how to soothe yourself with words. What you need is emotional, but food is something you can reach for right now.

Sometimes the need to feel taken care of comes from feeling like you have to handle everything on your own.
 Or from feeling like you’re not good enough and everyone else has it figured out. That’s the connection between imposter syndrome and emotional eating. I gave a talk called The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating. Follow first, then comment WEBINAR and I’ll send you the link. 💛
#emotionaleating #comforteating #impostersyndrome #foodfreedom #nighttimeeating by @the.binge.cure

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10 days ago

Why do you want Oreos at midnight?

1️⃣ They’re off limits. The more forbidden a food is, the more you want it.

2️⃣ It’s midnight. During the day there’s always something keeping you busy, and busy keeps you out of your own head. At night, nothing’s left to distract you.

3️⃣ You’re upset. Oreos are crunchy, which is associated with forms of anger: annoyance, irritation, frustration, etc. By eating Oreos you express that anger and also turn it against yourself.

So the question isn’t how to stop eating the Oreos. It’s what you’d be feeling at midnight if they weren’t there.

Many women who struggle with food tend to believe they’re not good enough. I recorded a training on exactly this. The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

It’s already recorded, so follow first and comment WEBINAR and I’ll send you the link. You can watch it whenever works for you. It’s free, and it’s just real information and inspiration.

#emotionaleating #bingeeatingrecovery #foodfreedom #impostersyndrome #overeating by @the.binge.cure

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11 days ago

Many people think binge eating is something they have to manage for the rest of their lives.

They count calories, avoid certain foods, and try to control themselves after every binge.

But binge eating is a way of coping with something underneath. When you understand what’s eating “at” you, you can respond to yourself differently.

That’s how you move from managing binge eating to creating lasting freedom with food. 🤍

Sometimes what’s eating “at” you is the belief that you’re not good enough.

You’re afraid people will find out you’re not as capable as they think. You feel like everyone else belongs, and you don’t.

Those feelings can lead to emotional eating. That’s why I just gave a talk on The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

Comment WEBINAR and I’ll send you the link. 💛

#emotionaleating #bingeeating #foodfreedom #impostersyndrome #dietculture by @the.binge.cure

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12 days ago

Want to know the list of “safe” foods you can eat while healing your relationship with food?
Here it is:

All of them.

You don’t have to give up any food to heal from binge eating or emotional eating. In fact, the foods you make off limits are often the ones you end up bingeing on.

The moment you decide you can’t have something, you start thinking about it more.

The more forbidden it becomes, the more you want it. Then when you finally have it, you can’t stop.
That’s not a lack of willpower.

That’s deprivation.

You don’t have to earn your food or cut out everything you enjoy. Food is supposed to be yummy, even when it isn’t what diet culture calls “healthy.”

And if you turn to food regularly, you may be using food to cope.

That’s what deserves your attention, not what’s in the kitchen.

If feeling “not good enough” is part of that, you’ll benefit from the talk I just gave: The Surprising Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Emotional Eating.

Follow and then comment WEBINAR and I’ll send the link to your DMs.

#emotionaleating #bingeeatingrecovery #foodfreedom #dietculture #impostersyndrome by @the.binge.cure

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12 days ago

The first thing you do after eating more than you intended is usually attack yourself.

Don’t.

1️⃣ Don’t compensate.
Don’t skip your next meal or promise to be “good” tomorrow. Restriction is part of what keeps the cycle going. Instead:

2️⃣ Ask what was happening before you reached for the chips.
Crunchy foods can be a way of expressing forms of anger, like frustration, annoyance, irritation, resentment or even rage.

3️⃣ Pay attention to the fact that you’re eating in the car.
Maybe you’re hiding what and how much you’re eating. Maybe you’re using the car as a place where nobody can interrupt you, ask anything of you, or see what’s going on.

4️⃣ Change the way you talk to yourself.
Don’t call yourself disgusting or tell yourself you have no willpower. That makes you feel worse, and feeling worse sends you back to food for comfort. Ask yourself:

“What was I feeling right before I started eating?”

The chips are not the problem. They’re a clue to what’s eating “at” you.

That’s where you need to look. 🤍

Comment HEAL and I’ll send you my free emotional eating quiz. It will help you identify what’s driving your eating.

#emotionaleating #binge by @the.binge.cure

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13 days ago