normal or binge eating?

tonight i went to my pyschiatrist and when we were discussing my eating habits the first thing he did was say 'i think you might be binging'. thats gotten me all scared now because i dont feel as though im binging on the foods when i want them. he also said my eating habits aren't normal. for example i mixed in yoghurt with nut and fruit loaf and pureed banana. he warned me that it might have been a binge because its not normal.

but when i think about it it is normal, isn't it. you can go to shops and buy yoghurt with any options. lollies, crumble toppings, chocolate, fruits and you can go to a cafe and buy a muffin with ice-cream so why should this be considered a binge? ithink its only binging when i force myself to eat because i haven't eaten enough.

im so lost with what to do. heres my eats today

B: oatmeal (banana, oats, soy milk, fresh dates, walnuts, golden syrup)

S: wholemeal flatbread, hummus and cranberries and cucumber (made into a sandwhich)

L: 3 sushi rolls (spicy tuna, prawn and california)

S: greek yoghurt, 2 crumbled chocolate biscotti, 8 cinnamon almonds, 2 strawberries

D: pasta with pumpkin pesto (1/4 roasted pumpkin, 5 sundried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, lemon juice and a nice wedge of riccotta whizzed up in a blender)

S: apple with peanutbutter (more than a tablespoon), glass of almond milk

 if anyone sees or thinks it looks like a binge please let me know. the only stages i feel uncomfortable eating is at night which is usually when all my pm meals are grouped together, due to a hectic routine. the apple with peanutbutter was a tad of a binge but i dont know. i previously was a binge eater before ed (weighing double my current size) and i do fear getting back in the old habits

also when i make smoothies, i have to eat out of a bowl cause they are so huge and i add cereal and stuff. would this be a binge considering my snacks will one day in the summer become my breakfast. is having a sandwhich for a snack like today a binge? cause if i ate just as the bread with cucumber sticks and dip i dont think it would be considered a binge but as a sandwhich it seems like too much for a snack. (this might just be ed here)

help would be really nice. julie

Original Post by liney_line:

when i make smoothies, i have to eat out of a bowl cause they are so huge and i add cereal and stuff.

Binge is an emotive word but don't let it throw you.   I think the above is probably the type of thing you're being asked to watch out for because if you get used to eating big, big volumes of very bulky, stodgy foods you'll struggle to rein it back at some point in the future.   That heavy-duty 'oatmeal with everything lobbed in it' breakfast and the fruitloaf/yoghurt/banana mush thing would other examples.   Try to look for more foods that are calorie-dense but low in bulk... like the apple with peanut butter is a good example.  Eat more food that contains fats.... if you don't eat meat (?), try eating a lot more oily fish for example.... add lots of olive oil to the pasta/ricotta dish another time..... several eggs for breakfast.... more cheese and other full-fat dairy products.

thanks gi jane but i enjoy eating the 'mush' than the peanutbutter and apple. and the stuff in my oatmeal makes it all taste good. i add the nuts and dried fruits because it keeps me full to recess but sometimes im just too full. i dont know. i have a meal plan from a dietician but it actually includes more foods than what im eating at the current stage. like smoothies with dinner, fruit and yoghurt with lunch, toast with breakfast + 3 snacks. i find it easier to incoorporate everything. maybe because i havent been as active its the reason why i feel so full of the time because everything is staying put. but im not supposed to burn it off.

tomorrow i might trial adding more but eating less. but i have been craving my yoghurt with mush and really i eat what i crave otherwise i cant stop thinking about it and it gets too dizzy.

should i just add milk powders or protein shakes to my smoothies or yoghurt and limit the amount of stuff that goes in? now that i think about it i am bininging cause im always uncomforatble put still persue eating.

gosh i can ramble

No I think he is a little off track.

I suppose a binge (in my understanding) is a urge to uncontrollably eat, for example the concept being, saying "I will have one cookie" and then eating the remaining 12 in the pack without really being able to stop yourself and so on and so forth. Afterwards it is followed with a feeling of both guilt and upset - feeling as though you have let yourself down (almost scared of yourself and your urges. Its more the thoughts behind eating such huge amounts uncontrollably -rather than the food itself.

Eating a large breakfast (or a "stodgy" one) or even one very high in calories does not mean that you are uncontrollably bingeing. If you have allocated calories to it and/or are happy with the food for the day, then you really don’t have anything to worry about. When I was receiving from anorexia, (on a weight gain diet plan), I would save about 1000 calories for dinner - I had so much food in one go. I suppose it allowed me to eat the huge quantities which my mind and body craved, but in a controlled manor - preventing me from bingeing if anything.

In therapy/psych I have been told things that were wrong and I did not feel or face. This is when it was my job to state what was realtiy or what I felt. If you feel this is not a binge and to me I eat way more then this and don't binge. I do have a high calorie diet though I would talk to the person who stated this. Therapy is about expressing yourself. I was ip with people who binge and I know there are all extremes and I agree with gi there is a huge mental component but they binge on sheet cakes for example. Again I am not saying you but I think some use binging when they should use overeating. Overeating though is often used as a way to numb ones feelings etc just like an anorexic starves to numb or what ever the reason behind. Also when on weight gain one needs a high calorie diet. For ex when I was ip on 4500 a day that for an average person if only needing 2500 a day the extra 2000 would of been a binge/overeating possibly but not for me cause my body needed the food.

I think you need to follow the meal plan set by your nutritionist. You can't negotiate it to be well. I also think you need to talk to your psych or possibly to your nutritionist about the comment

Original Post by liney_line:

 but sometimes im just too full. i dont know. i have a meal plan from a dietician but it actually includes more foods than what im eating at the current stage. like smoothies with dinner, fruit and yoghurt with lunch, toast with breakfast + 3 snacks. i

I think it's this being 'too full' element that might be at the heart of this.  (Forget about bingeing because I don't think that's the right word here.)  Some people in recovery try to delay weight-gain by sitting down to very big plates of relatively low cal foods, getting too full and then being unable to hit the calorie target required to gain weight successfully.   Not saying that's applicable to you, but it will be something that your medical team is looking out for.

The foods your dietician is recommending ... toast, yoghurt, smoothies, fruit etc are quite low in bulk but reasonably calorific..  The 3 snacks are there because the 'little and often' method of eating is easier on the digestion than big meals. Next time you see your dietician, talk through the types of foods you'd like to include in your meal-plan. 

i think what you are eating is fine , its not like you are eating packets of biscuits and choclate bars. anyway what is it normal to eat my best friend likes jam and marmite sandwitches this isnt normal but she like it and hasnt an ed

How many calories are you eating in a day? A binge is generally made up of thousands of calories in a sitting, like a PP said, an entire bag of cookies, a whole carton of ice cream, etc. And GI jane is right - it is tied to emotion. Eating a 500 calorie meal to make up a deficit is not a binge... eating 3000 calories because you're lonely is.

thanks for the in put guys. im still clearing my head about whether or not im binging. i only saw the dietician once though cause she said how i was eating was fine and if i ever needed to bulk up then i could use her meal template, its my physchiatrist who is concerned im binging.

i dont want to delay my weight gain but i also dont want old habits to kick in. i dont think i ever will eat a whole box of chips, loaf of bread with butter in one sitting, nor do i intend to do that in the future. i do keep my meals at an aimed calorie intake and try not to go beyond a certain amount and i do portion so it doesn't seem overloaded, except with smoothies its so easy to bulk up and using ice i guess does make me fuller so i should watch out there.

i think now that i am protesting against calorie counting i am eating over 2,600 at least on most days. when it comes to mains i try to get at least 500 -700 in each and snacks will just depend on what i choose like a 200 calorie bar and 200 calorie yoghurt plus fruit so that would be about 450, same as my smoothies milk, yoghurt fruit, cereal -450 or if i make pancakes than it would be about 700 (including yoghurt and or peanutbutter)

and helen marmite and jam..... alright but you shuld tell your friend that vegemite is better!

Original Post by counselork:

Eating a 500 calorie meal to make up a deficit is not a binge... eating 3000 calories because you're lonely is.

 Very well said.

Original Post by mashed_tatties:

Original Post by counselork:

Eating a 500 calorie meal to make up a deficit is not a binge... eating 3000 calories because you're lonely is.

 Very well said.

 I third that

i mixed in yoghurt with nut and fruit loaf and pureed banana.

Can i just say..... YUM!!!!

I mix all types of weird foods together, and most often they taste YUMMY!!! Sometimes i get a bad combo going on but i know not to mix those items next time. 

I dont think you are binging at all. Binging is about emotions, not so much about calories, in my opinion anyway. 

this is another reason to count, over eating or eating a lot may just be eating closer to "normal" meals, or a bit more since u do need MORE than others, ur gaining, not maintaining.

once again thanks to everyone. 

my mum and i had a long discussion as to whether or not i was binging and we came to the conclusion i wasn't because im being reasonable with myself. adding cereal to a smoothie is not a binge neither is adding fruit and biscuits or cake to yoghurt.

we think maybe my pyschiatrist is worried that im gonna panic once i hop on the scales and restrict immediatley, but i know better than that and he should trust me. my meals are sensible and this is weight gaining so if i chose to add extra to something without using the whole thing its not a binge like counselork said:

Eating a 500 calorie meal to make up a deficit is not a binge... eating 3000 calories because you're lonely is.

thankyou for that i feel so much better about eating now. i was actually going to restrict to just an apple for a snack after eating this for breakfast

B: oats soaked overnight with almond milk, added in the morning mashed banana, fresh dates, walnuts and a slice of fruit and nut loaf (so good)

but then i read all your support and it completley changed my day. thankyou!

Hey, glad ur feeling a bit better about it now :-)

I've got to say I agree with the above comments really... binging doesn't HAVE to be scarfing entire cakes or bags of crisps in one sitting as it's a subjective term. What's a binge for one person is a pretty standard meal for another! For instance I consider drinking a high cal shake alongside my breakfast of branflakes and banana, or even pouring the damn thing over my cereal as just another way to eat it. Not 'normal' but the average 'normal' person doesn't need 3-4000 calories a day, do they?

You have to (and it seems like you are getting there) get used to the idea of larger meals than you're used to when you've been restricting anyway, and also it's sometimes quite a good thing to mix foods and experiment in recovery since ultimately it might help you feel comfortable with food combinations in the future. (Instead of portioning off each item eg: chicken breast, next to a cup of rice, next to a cup of vegetables, no sauce ect ect).

To me, making large smoothies and mixing lots of tasty additions in to your oats does not sound like binging, it sounds as if you are trying to get your calories in, and motivate yourself by making tasty meals. Now if you said you felt unable to stop, or were constantly craving foods, or were restricting in the day so that you would have to eat all evening, that would make me think you were bingeing.

As you said you have had trouble with bingeing in the past, you're quite well qualified to know what it feels like when you binge, how you feel, how you eat, what you eat, whether you feel a little full or  actually feel sick, ect. Does it?

I also agree with the bulk theory - it's a bit as if you are worried about not being full enough at the end of meal and will want to eat more? Are you trying to prevent that by filling up on loads of volume and not much fat?

Maybe experiment for a few days with higher calorie additions or items that make you eat smaller quantities at each meal and see how you feel.

For instance, I have trouble filling up quickly due to poor digestion, so I add a tbs of heavy cream in to a yoghurt, peanut butter in my oats, butter or oil on my rice/pasta/potatoes ect ect. And if you want the big plate of vegetable because you like vegetables, that's fine, but limit yourself to a couple of cups at a time, and put some dressing or cheese, meat or nuts on it.

XXX

thanks smash. another thing i realized last night, if people didn't experiment with their foods and add flavours how would you come up with the best recipies. just because something has alot of ingredients such as oats with dried fruit, fresh fruit and nuts does not mean its going to be a binge. and if a meal happens to be 1000 calories its because they had to use all these ingredients to make the perfect flavour. such as pesto, oil, cheese, herbs high calorie  but its not a binge to put pesto on your pasta.

some of the best recipies are discovered by combing new flavours. apple pie (oats, dried fruits nuts, fesh fruit) sounds like my oatmeal doesn't it? guess thats why i like it so much.......

also i dont try to bulk up my food i just cant stop experimenting with combinations. its an ed habit being away from food jsut makes me more obsessed with it. everyone goes through it. and i'll add watever ingredient fat or no fat to see how the flavours will combine.

I agree with all above, you are right to take that comment with a pinch of salt. I also struggle with wondering whether I am 'bingeing' and I can tell you right now that a lot of the time is is an ED driven fear. when I was ill I had severe purging AN and would genuinely binge on tens of thousands of calories...yet I still wonder if licking a spoon when I'm measuring jam or adding a banana to a snack cause I'm particularly hungry means I am bingeing. when I write it out it sounds ridiculous but it is just another way for my ED to try and scare me out of eating in a less overcontrolled way :P

think about it: are you eating multiple servings of things at once? like, not just weight gaining servings but 4, 5, 6? are you eating mindlessly without really 'deciding' to? are you eating far more than you had planned for or were hungry for? if so, maybe you should worry. but eating a weight gain diet with combinations of foods like you described isn't bingeing.

innocent, i go into the day with some idea of what im going to eat but its never exact, i dont eat mindlessley i am particular about that. i have boundaries to snacking so i dont go overboard, for example i have something but dont go for seconds or add more if i know i dont want it or can't handle the amount. i wont stand in the kitchen and eat i will find somewhere else so i cant eat mindlessley and get distracted by other foods. sometimes i will add something extra just because i saw it and im like hmmm well i want that but if i have eaten alot than i wont take too much. i am aware of how to prevent over eating. my physc really just doesn't understand normal i guess

he actually accused a peanutbutter and jam sandwhich as being weird, he may not know everything but he has helped me but i feel that i wont need to see him for too long, we have actually changed my sessions to once every 2 weeks because i am coping well without him and am rarely depressed.

Original Post by liney_line:

innocent, i go into the day with some idea of what im going to eat but its never exact, i dont eat mindlessley i am particular about that. i have boundaries to snacking so i dont go overboard, for example i have something but dont go for seconds or add more if i know i dont want it or can't handle the amount. i wont stand in the kitchen and eat i will find somewhere else so i cant eat mindlessley and get distracted by other foods. sometimes i will add something extra just because i saw it and im like hmmm well i want that but if i have eaten alot than i wont take too much. i am aware of how to prevent over eating. my physc really just doesn't understand normal i guess

sounds exactly how eat to be honest. perhaps your psych is just worried because he thinks that recovering anorexics will eat in a totally planned unspontaneous way? when actually we do need to move on from that at some point...