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Good food binges


GlennR

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We often read about people distraught about their food binges. I happen to think that occasional binges are natural and not at all harmful. In fact, I have some pretty good memories about some food binges past. I wrote this on another thread (discussing fat):

 

"I remember one time back in college, some friends and I went to an island that happened to have a pig farm. The workers there roasted a whole piglet (lechon) just for the five of us. We feasted around the campfire under the stars. Usually in parties with lechon, people fight to get the crunchy skin. This time, we had way more skin than we could eat. We lay on our mats after, bellies full, watching stars streak across the sky, till we fell asleep."

 

What are some of your happy memories of food binges?

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Ooh, and another one: There used to be a US military R&R facilities up in the mountains of Baguio in the Philippines. Some friends and I went to one of the restaurants there for exotic fare: huge American breakfasts with steak and eggs. (Well, they were exotic to us.) For some reason, I was really hungry that morning, and when people couldn't finish their meals, I pretty much polished off their leftover steaks and eggs. My friends were shocked, since I normally eat like a bird. Not sure myself where I packed it all away, since I felt perfectly fine afterwards.

 

Good times.

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Glenn, I don't have any happy memories of binges.  Zero.   Your memory is actually Whole 30 compliant and it sounds wonderful.  

 

The happiest food memories I have are feeding my family and relatives great, Whole 30 compliant style foods.  Proteins, vegetables and fats.    Why?   Because Mr. Bear is the most outstanding cook I've ever known.   My family says they've never eaten so well and they all wish he would open up a restaurant.  He says that would take the joy out of cooking and watching their faces light up with happiness for free.   He believes good food makes everything better...including the sad times when we lose some of them.  

 

I don't want binges or thrill eating.  I don't want abby-normal.  I've been working on a redirect where my focus is to sing like no one is listening, dance like nobody is watching and live like it's heaven on earth.  I want food freedom. 

 

I've experienced the best 9 months in recent memory and all of them have been binge free....meal by meal, mile by mile and day by day.

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"Everything in moderation, including moderation." I'm the family cook/baker and one of our rituals is that you get to request any kind of treat you want for your birthday. A few years ago, my 14-year-old niece, out of the blue requested a sour cherry pie for her birthday. So I went about tracking down fresh sour cherries and made her a ginormous totally-from-scratch fresh cherry pie. It needed to feed all 12 of us so I was cursing up a storm trying to work with pie pastry in the heat of summer. But the look on her face when she saw that I had actually made her the pie, was priceless. She took one look at the pie and then looked straight at me and said with a huge smile: "You made me pie". And then she hugged me. It completely melted my heart and is still one of my favourite food memories.

 

I know this isn't a "good food binge" per se but tracking down pails of fresh sour Ontario cherries (so you don't have to use that terrible gelatinous canned filling) and making something that is jam-packed with whole fruit and made-from-scratch is a big win for me. I didn't think that any bakery or shop could *ever* spend as much time, money or love baking something that I could. It also helps ensure that any rare treats taste like real/whole food instead of pure sugar.

 

 

16147527983_dac186a9e1_q.jpgjuliana birthday slab pie

 

Um, but I sure do have a sweet spot for Asian roast pork. It hits every happy note for me. :)

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For me, and likely many others who either struggle with disordered binge eating or are in recovery from it, there is no such thing as a "good" or healthy occasional binge. 

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For me, and likely many others who either struggle with disordered binge eating or are in recovery from it, there is no such thing as a "good" or healthy occasional binge. 

Nope, every memory I have of binge eating is awful.  I love Glenn's recollection of the pig bake and sleeping under the stars, fed and happy.  

 

When I overeat it turns on something in my head from my old life of eating ridiculous volumes of food to try and numb whatever-it-was and all I can feel is those terrible feelings again.  No thanks.

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Glenn, what you are describing I'd call feasting, rather than binging.

You have happy memories of eating something really delicious.

Binging often involves eating just about anything one can get their hands on, and regretting eating it afterward.

And it is pretty universal to feel sick as a dog after binging.

You say yourself that you felt perfectly fine after this. Maybe you were just really, really hungry because you hadn't been getting enough to eat over the days preceding your feast.

Finally, it's common for binge eating to be something people hide. Your feasts were social events.

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Glenn, what you are describing I'd call feasting, rather than binging.

You have happy memories of eating something really delicious.

Binging often involves eating just about anything one can get their hands on, and regretting eating it afterward.

And it is pretty universal to feel sick as a dog after binging.

You say yourself that you felt perfectly fine after this. Maybe you were just really, really hungry because you hadn't been getting enough to eat over the days preceding your feast.

Finally, it's common for binge eating to be something people hide. Your feasts were social events.

 

I accept your distinction, with two minor objections: I can also enjoy a feast by myself (they just don't make as good stories) and I do not necessarily have to have been hungry days beforehand -- sometime the mood just hits, you know.

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But "binge" still doesn't just mean "overeating."  The term specifically refers to a loss of control.  

 

If "the mood hits" and you decide to have a feast for yourself, you're not binging, you're having a feast for yourself.  Just because you're eating more than your body requires doesn't make it a binge.  You're describing making a decision about what to eat, and then enjoying the food.  That is not binge eating.  

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But "binge" still doesn't just mean "overeating."  The term specifically refers to a loss of control.  

 

If "the mood hits" and you decide to have a feast for yourself, you're not binging, you're having a feast for yourself.  Just because you're eating more than your body requires doesn't make it a binge.  You're describing making a decision about what to eat, and then enjoying the food.  That is not binge eating.  

 

Yeah, I am. Binge just means something done to excess, it doesn't necessarily mean loss of control (ex. you can willingly indulge in a Netflix binge). I grant that that's the connotation of the term around here, but that's why I qualified it as a good food binge and why I already agreed to the distinction above (between "binging" and "feasting"). So fine, I'm asking for examples of good feasting.

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This thread has certainly given me pause. I thought for sure there would be at least some tales of glorious Thanksgiving feasts, or overflowing Christmas dinners. I am honestly surprised that people's experiences regarding the overindulgence of food seem to be so overwhelmingly negative.

 

I’m realizing now that part of my surprise comes from not taking into account some major cultural differences. In the part of the world where I come from, there are occasions where you are not just permitted to overindulge, you are invited, you are encouraged. In social gatherings, the hosts will insist that you eat some more ... and eat some more ... and eat some more. And then as you're leaving, they’ll press bags of leftovers into your hand to take with you. We enjoy our bouts of (what we used to call) “pigging out.” And if there is an actual roast pig in front of us, you can be sure we will devour it, with gusto.

 

Because overindulgence is sometimes given permission, given space, I think I’m coming from a very different perspective, where this is not seen as such a bad thing, where there isn’t quite as much shame or guilt, where it can sometimes actually be benign and enjoyable.

 

It seems to me that if Whole30 is about having a healthier relationship with food, this kind of permission, this kind of space can be valuable. Because, being humans, we will eat to excess at some point. The lovely thing about Whole30 is that it gives us the template that allows us to avoid some of the negative consequences. Overeating is most certainly terrible if the food we eat is problematic or crap. But if we eat—or even occasionally overeat—good food (and we all know what good food is now, right?), we’ll be okay. We would just be nourishing ourselves, and any overindulgence will likely be evened out by not eating as much afterwards. That’s the beauty of satiation.

 

And maybe some of the compulsive nature and emotional distress around overeating will be blunted. At least, that’s my hope, because it truly does sadden me that so many people feel so out of control when it comes to their appetites.

 

Whole30 potluck, anyone?

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Glenn, I remember last summer when you were discussing this subject.   You're right, it could be a cultural difference.

I'm from a background of lack and starvation through many generations of native people and good food binges are not part of that legacy.   There were many lean times and seldom times of an over-abundance of anything.  

 

I've found the over-abundance of today has not led to a healthy relationship with food but more binge or thrill eating than ever before with negative consequences.   Times of lack were a time of sharing with others....everything was shared with the family and relatives.  Food was conserved, put away for the lean times but it ran out.  I have another narrative and it's way too sad...but alas, the SAD narrative is sad, too.

 

I still have the conserving, preserving way of thinking.  I believe in putting it away for the rainy day and sharing everything with others when times are lean....spreading it out for a long, cold, blustery winter when lakes and rivers are frozen.   You can't fish, the ground is covered with snow...people ate the bark off of trees.  That's some serious Paleo right there and it wasn't that long ago.   My grandmother hid food in her closet, she had 12 children. 

She was always putting something back.   I hide food in my closets, too.   It must be genetic.   I have food stashed at the bottom of all my closets.   Kippers, tuna, salmon, dried berries.  Mr. Bear is alarmed when he sees all of the food I've squirreled away.   I didn't plan on being this way, it's just the way I tick.

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Glenn- I have read over this thread once, twice and thrice, and i guess i will finally give you my thought on binges. When I was growing up, my mother was extremely thin, a chain smoker and a diabetic all rolled into one package. The thinner someone was the better, she was 5'7 and topped out at 97 pounds until she had a heart attack in '76 and 'ballooned' up to 140--which was obese as far as she was concerned. I was restricted to 900 calories a day all through my growing up years. My biggest cheat was a slice of bread with butter with a touch of honey, and I had to sneak it. I never was allowed snacks and to this day I have issues with feeling allowed to eat snacks. So food became something I fantasized about. I once bought a package of cookies with my own money and stashed them in my room. My mom found them and you would have thought Armageddon had happened she was so furious with me. 

 

Fast forward to my marrying my first husband. I weighted 112 on our wedding day (5'1) and he ragged on me that I was too fat to wear my negligee that I had chosen for our wedding night. He was abusive, both mentally and emotionally--told me I was too fat for anyone to want or love (at 112) that I started to eat to hide to bury my hurt. I went from 112 to 350+ in under 6 years. I managed to get away and once I was in a safe place, I lost 70 pounds in 6 months. Hi carb, only 1T of added oil a day. Pretty strict and my mom still ragged on me--I was eating BAS salads before they had even been thought of (early 90's) and my mom griped about how much food I was eating and how could I lose weight eating so much. I did manage to get down to 140 myself over about 10 years--loose some, maintain for 6 months and then go again. And I did it with out surgery. Then I got sick and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. And I gained weight again (sigh) because insulin can do that. And that is the weight I am battling with now and have been for the last 7 years. 

 

The kind of binging is what I dream about. Have you ever seen 7 brides for 7 brothers? I dream for family like Milly talked about with Adam--all of them visiting at the holidays and birthdays... I have always loved the feasts and feeding people and being like an Italian grandmother or Mrs. Claus trying to get Santa to eat, and eat and eat. I don't indulge in that kind of feasting myself, unless I am the one who hosts, because now my step mother is like my mother and gets a pinched face if I take more than one serving of anything, a single cracker with a slice of cheese will send her into fits of grumpiness so I never partake. I don't like going to buffets because I always feel like those behind me are whispering--better get there before the fat girl eats it all. I don't like people judging me by what is on my plate at public functions because of it so I take very little and never go back. 

 

I would so love to just feast and pig out and just be like Bacchus, but I can't because I know that no matter how healthy and thin I get, I will always be viewed as the fat girl  and I would rather not put myself in that position again. Thankfully, my husband loves me for how I am, thick, thin, however which I am very thankful for and his favorite saying is luminous beings are we, not this crude matter and I love him for it. 

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