I'm sorry you are going through this. I can relate. For the longest time I used to binge and binge and it caught up to me. It really does a toll on your body.

Two things that have helped me the most were

1) Therapy. I didn't realize it but the binging was related to deep-rooted issues and once I was able to overcome those, I noticed the binging doesn't occur.

2) I also sought out a hypnotist. It actually worked in the sense that it created a calming effect.

This is definitely a tough subject, but I think you really need to be happy with your body to give it the respect it deserves. You need to throw out anything that causes those triggers. Not in sight not in mind.

Hopefully this helps, and unfortunately there is no quick fix

**EDIT: I read that you contemplate suicide. This is a serious issue and I really hope you seek help. I was in the same position as you are and you cannot believe how much therapy has turned my way of thinking around. Prior to therapy, I could eat bags of m&Ms, cookies, what not, and exercise like crazy to help burn it off. It was not healthy and causing my health to detoriate. I am also on anti-depressants, because although cognitive therapy is important, sometimes you are hormonally imbalanced and require medication. I hope that I don't have to be on medication forever, that is why I turned to Paleo, hoping to heal my body naturally and ween myself of medication. But please, seek help and I hope that you will find support.

Hi, Matthius. You may or may not know this but I had a 50-year problem with binge eating disorder.

Please trust me when I say it's possible to fight your way out of binge eating but it is hard as hell. The general goal is to realize that binges come from emotional unrest.

There's no one right way--in fact, you'll probably need to find YOUR way. I'll give a quick list here and I also invite you to read longer articles I've written on the subject. Just check my profile for the link.

Okay:

• You don't have to fight alone. If you want to get personal support there are meetings and counselors. If you want support through reading, there are a number of binge eaters past and/or present on PH and many blog writers discuss it as well.
• Learn to distinguish between physical hunger and emotional cravings. Feed the physical hunger to weaken or isolate the emotional stuff.
• Learn non-food ways to deal with the emotional cravings. Get away from food--go to a hardware store, do a hard physical work-out, etc.
• Start each day with a large fatty, high-protein meal. It won't stop emotional cravings but it will weaken them somewhat.
• Find sources of relaxation and laughter. Watch the Comedy Channel. Read the r/funny section on reddit.com. If you like to meditate or think quietly, do that--the latter while taking a long walk, perhaps.

The hardest thing for you right now is to relax, but that's what you need in order to gain control. You may experience 3 steps forward, 2 steps back but don't worry about. Tomorrow is always a new start for you and you can do it.

If/when you can, switch to pre-emptive binges of paleo foods so any neolithic foods will have a hard time getting in. Gradually try to stay off the bad stuff and if you do all of the above you may find food becoming less important--but only if you practice finding other sources of fun and comfort rather than food.

Best wishes!

Am I the only person here who's thinking that "up to 134 lbs" at a height of 5'9" is underweight?

Does your planned diet, aside from the binges, contain starch? I had similar (though not nearly as bad) problems for the past year when I avoided starches and was mostly eating meats, veggies (tubers included), dairy and fruit. My diet wasn't very low carb but I still was hungrier than I should have been when eating those amounts of protein, fat and calories. I was and still am a few kilos overweight too - I actually started gaining weight when I went paleo in 2010.

I added in "safe" starches à la Perfect Health Diet a month or so ago, and haven't really craved sugar since. Before this I couldn't go a week without binging on candy or cookies. You might want to experiment with more starch if you haven't already. But like others have suggested, I would first and foremost recommend you go see a professional... They will help you and there's nothing to be ashamed of in seeing a therapist. Good luck! :)

I developed this problem, too, over a 2 year period of 70-lb weight loss and calorie restriction. Paleo has helped many things, but not this. I figured if I finally nourished my body, I would stop, but the scenario of binging on roast chicken, eggs, cans of tuna, roasted veggies, and straight coconut oil is all to familiar. As a matter of fact, my binges were on "healthy" food 90% of the time. The two things that CURED me:

1. I suspected I was having blood sugar issues. After doing some research I ordered the herb Gymnema Sylvestre and would let two pills dissolve in my mouth when I caught myself with my head in the fridge. Placebo effect, maybe (or the nasty taste of the pill itself) but it definitely helped take the edge off. I was later diagnosed with PCOS and put on Metformin, which GREATLY reduced the actual HUNGER I was feeling, but...

2. ... I was still thinking about food all the time. I suppose it was out of habit at that point. I had read about the food reward theory and decided to give it a try. They say it takes seven days to break a habit, so I gave this method two weeks and I was CURED: I consumed 1800 calories (I am a 140 lb 5'7" female) per day of the following: 6 scoops of whey protein powder mixed with 6 T chia seed followed by either 1 T olive oil or 3 fish oil pills- split into 6 feedings per day. Yes, it sucked, but I definitely stopped looking forward to my meals and after about five days started FORGETTING to eat because I WASN'T HUNGRY AND I WASN'T THINKING ABOUT FOOD anymore.

3 months later - I haven't binged once.

I've read some of your previous posts, and I'm going to say the same thing I said to the last question you posed, which I think you deleted.

I think you need to gain weight. I know it sucks, and I know you don't want to, but you are recovering from, if I'm correct, years of extreme low-calorie dieting. Your fat tissues are starved and they are SCREAMING to be fed. You already know this. And they aren't going to stop screaming because you're eating chicken instead of cookie dough. They will stop screaming when they stop starving. And that might mean that you need to be skinny fat instead of ridiculously thin.

And you know this as well as I do. It's better to be skinny fat, or even slightly pudgy, than to be 17 and suicidal because you can't fit enough cookie dough or pork roast roast in your belly to stop being hungry (I'm not mocking you, I've been there, honest).

So the practical advice is to literally stop restricting. Keep working out, lift weights, eat healthy, etc. etc., but since your body is literally starving, and is literally sending your brain starvation signals, each day of fasting or not eating or whatever is just going to delay the day that your fat cells finally stop screaming at your brain. So some days you'll eat normally, and some days you'll binge. Then, maybe 10 lbs from now, you'll just be eating normally. This means you need to stop "making up" for your binges. This means your binges will add up to some lbs of fat over time. It won't be that much. It really won't. And the goal is to stop bingeing, to stop the next binge, NOT to make up for yesterday's binge, NOT to maintain a weight loss that is making you insane.

You can gain some weight without regaining all the weight, because you're not giving up on everything, you're not giving up on healthy eating or healthy living. You're actually committing yourself fully to healthy eating and healthy living, and that means not starving yourself to make up for yesterdays' binge, that means not beating the crap out of yourself over it. When you give up, that's when you gain ALL the weight back. Committing to being healthier, body and mind, means just gaining a BIT of the weight back.

And then, maybe six months from now, maybe a year from now, when you're a little more healed, in a little bit of a healthier place and aren't just getting off the end of a serious starvation diet, then maybe you can try again, slowly, with a relaxed attitude. And maybe you won't, because maybe you'll find that you don't need to, because maybe you'll be in college or whatever and you'll be playing sports and you'll have a pretty girlfriend or boyfriend and life will be good, and you won't be worrying about it anymore.

The good news is that you're only slightly flabby, so you can get back to leanness fairly quickly.

I think you should throw away all concentrated sources of fat, sugar and salt and start over with a much more elemental diet. Get that shit out of your house and don't buy more of it. Eat baked meat, microwaved sweet potatoes/russets, some liver and some egg yolks. That's your diet now. Don't eat any fruit since the sweetness will probably be a trigger. Don't salt anything.

The trick is to not take that first bite of anything that sends you down the path. Alcoholics in recovery aren't going to take the occasional swig, so you shouldn't take a bite of a cookie or some other drug-food.

You need to retrain yourself to start listening to actual hunger signals, which couldn't possibly be telling you to eat again with that much chicken in your stomach, for example.

Anyway, this will take time, so be patient. You need to etch these healthy pathways ever deeper.

When did you start binging? On Paleo or before? Please let me know - it is important. Usually binge eating starts after severe caloric restriction. Have you ever fasted or restricted your caloric intake dramatically (lower than 1,600 calories per day)?

Oh, and this is VERY IMPORTANT: do not feel guilt or shame after a binge. If you feel guilty, it will make binge eating behavior even worse due to the way our brains function. Say to yourself "Oh, well, so I overate - not a big deal" it is going to help your brain to recover better.

It is going to be okay, don't worry - I know a lot of success stories of former binge eaters. The best method out there is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It really works.

I found the book and online support program called Normal Eating by Sheryl Canter to be very helpful.

I used to go through similar episodes, and I think the 3 important things that triggered them were a) emotional issues unrelated to food, b) psychological self- restriction (wanting to be thin and forbidding myself to eat out of fear to get fat), c) relying on carbs for most of my calories (->insatiable appetite). I was never anorexic or bulimic, but the constant hunger used to haunt me pretty much all the time.

It changed gradually for me. Started with emotional healing. Then, being a sort of a skinny fat and not able to lose weight, I just decided that weight wasn't going anywhere and I would have to accept myself as I were; just try to be as healthy as I could. This lifted the psychological pressure to be thin, and helped a lot. I became more mindful of what I eat and stopped repressing myself. Haven't heard of paleo at that point, but lost some weight anyways. I then gradually started to rely on fat/protein/veggies for most of my calories, and that was crucial, as eating mostly carbs keeps you constantly craving for more. Then binges went away.

I think emotional/psychological factor is very important, and I know how hard it can be to get out of mental traps. So try to work on that along with tweaking your diet towards more fat, safe starches, veggies and protein. And be gentle on yourself! Hope this helps.

Ok Matt...

Rule 1: Nobody's perfect. Don't allow one bad day to upset you or throw off your intentions for the rest of the week. You're still doing better than 95% of people.

Rule 2: Changing habits takes time. So many people build very complex relationships with food, bringing it in to every area of their lives, and it almost always ends up as an abusive relationship on both sides. It can be very hard to separate out your own identity, but take the time to recognise and acknowledge every little step you take towards greater freedom.

Rule 3: Learn from your mistakes. You know what happens, you know that buying the food is a bad idea, you know that first bite is a bad idea, but you just can't escape it. The idea grips you, and all the incredibly powerful circuitry your brain has built up keeps in to persuade you that it's inevitable. Ironically it's doing this to protect you, to rationalise events you have no control over to make you feel safe. I bet you could even write down all the arguments you make to yourself, all the little bargains struck, all the thoughts that lead you back down that path. If you want to do things differently, you have to stop listening. It's not about more control, it's about less. The moment you hear that familiar track start playing, you need to turn off your brain. Whether through a distraction, a change of scenery, meditation techniques or simple brute force - it's simply not up for negotiation. That is the control you have, to shut off the higher brain functions and tell your legs directly to just walk away.

Rule 4: If the stress is too much, eat. Trying to implement new plans when your mind is obsessing about food is likely only going to damage both your self-esteem and your confidence in the plan. It's not an excuse, and if you start doing it every day then you know there's a problem, but it sounds like you're actually doing pretty well most of the time, so keep trying to apply the advice you get here, try and make your binges more paleo, and don't worry if it doesn't quite work. Personally, I'd look to some kind of fasting, but there's lots of approaches which can and will work for you once you get the hang of them. And it really will get easier, this doesn't have to be something you struggle with forever.

What a hard thing to go through! I've binged before, but it was always in pursuit of neurochemicals and once I got my tweaks correct, the urges diminished and eventually disappeared. A few things do stick out to me:

1) You seem to lack a satiety signal...is that at every meal, or just during binges? If it's every meal, you may have leptin issues- if so, are you addressing that with getting early morning sun and regimented meal times? If it's just during binges, I had the same dysfunction, and EFT/psych coping mechanisms might help, or just gorge on veggies alone.

2) Are you lifting heavy? Are you sprinting? Putting on muscle normalized lots of my cravings, and for a month solid it was protein-sleep-protein-sleep and I've only binged since when I screw up with sugar. At 5'9" and a 'heavy' weight of 134 you could easily hold another 30+ pounds of muscle.

As far as the cravings, some people find l-glutamate directly on the tongue to dampen those feelings; others like daily doses of 5-HTP (that's what worked for me; I was serotonin low and it made me carb obsessed)

I have no direct experience with binging, but I did occasionally overeat in the past. My experience is that it goes away when I am consuming very nutrient dense foods.

I would suggest that you start eating some extremely nutrient dense foods for a few weeks, such as shellfish, pastured beef/sheep heart, liver, chicken knuckles, bone broth, marrow bones, seaweeds, seafood, roe etc. Also some tubers, leafy greens.

I find that organs and whole fish have an extremely satiating effect on the appetite. It might just put a damper on things?

I'm reading a book called Full-filled by Renee Stephens, which i've found interesting and helpful. It's specifically about ending bingeing.

I wish you peace.

The fact that so many self described binge eaters describe being binge eaters no matter what their food choices, leads me to doubt that "going paleo" should be expected to "cure" binge eating per se. The food within sight and within reach is the "cause" of binge eating, in the same sense that a well stocked department store is the "cause" of shoplifting. Prior to the acts/facts of binge eating, is the impulse. I would be interested in hearing from some self described bing eaters who felt the itch but chose not to scratch it (by embarking on an eating spree), and who, conversely, got good at hanging out with "hunger" in all its ravenous "I need it now" urgency.

You got a lot of good advice here. I just want to add; one thing that really helped me when I was trying to get myself out of the anorexia loop was to give my scale away. It sounds simple and like it won't make much difference, but it was so liberating to break that cycle of waking up in the morning, weighing myself, and then spending my entire day thinking about food. I remember just wishing that I could be normal, that I could go for more than 5 minutes without obsessing over food. I would think about the number on the scale, and what I could do to make it smaller all day long. The first day without my scale was like performing without a net, but I slowly got over the need for it. It was just a piece of my healing process, but a simple and effective one. I wish you success. We should all be out there living and learning and eating when we need to fuel our bodies.

I was binging too on things like wheat thins, candy, etc etc and I managed to totally turn off all desire to binge by doing 2 things

1) I started taking 5 htp regularly

2) I went strict primal/paleo and cut out all grains, sugars, etc for a brief period of time. It's tough, but if you do it for long enough and combine it with the 5 htp supplements, the desire to binge goes away completely.

In my case it happened after doing low calorie low fat dieting but I've turned it around and am now a good weight for my height (5'2, 108 lbs). I highly recommend trying out what I did, it may work for you!

The binges are likely to do with the sugar that your body is craving for energy. If you have not COMPLETELY cut out all of the grains and extra sugars, your body is still trying to use them for energy- rather than burning fat. You need to severely deprive your body of these things (about 2 weeks), so that your body will turn to the fat for fuel. Those cravings are your body looking for more energy, or glucose (sugar in the blood). once you have converted your body into a fat burner, the cravings will stop.. but no sooner. Read about blood sugar levels and insulin. Good luck!