Dr. Kerri Fullerton ND

Intuitive Eating. Health At Every Size (HAES) Doctor

Blog

How to Stop Binge Eating

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When wanting to stop binge eating, the traditional choice is to control your food. Just keep all “trigger” foods out of sight and you’ll be alright. But I have to ask, has that ever worked before? It never did for me and it hasn’t for my clients or patients, at least not in the long term. And I don’t know about you, but the women that I work with are looking for forever freedom from binging, not just a temporary thing.

Let’s start with a quick discussion about what makes it a binge in the first place. Overeating and emotional eating are not the same as binge eating. But all three can be disordered eating.

Everybody in their life overeats or emotionally eats at one time or another. Sitting down with a tub of ice cream and a movie is no big deal now and again. What makes it disordered eating is the mental chatter about it. It could be the lead up to it where the chatter begins. It could be during the eating that the chatter starts. And it is certainly occurring afterwards. The feelings of failure and embarrassment are present. This can happen with one piece of food or a lot of food. And these feelings and thoughts typically linger for days.

Binging carries the same chatter. The shame about the episode is paralyzing. The black-and-white thinking takes over – “I fell off the wagon so why hold back now” or “If I’m going to give in, I might as well make it worth my while.” Huge amounts of food get consumed in a short amount of time. It’s frantic. It’s scary. The feeling of having absolutely no control takes over. Feeling like it ‘has’ to be consumed takes over everything. A panic that can only be soothed with food. Not stopping even when the body is screaming “no more.” That is a binge.

The shame that follows a binge is, like I said, paralyzing. If you get up the nerve to share what you ate with someone, you are usually met with a cringe and a face full of disbelief – even if it’s not intentional. You may have at some point decided to tell your doctor, naturopath, trainer, or counsellor. And then vowed that you would NEVER do it again, because unless they understand the difference between overeating and binging, they add to the shame by their reaction.

To stop binge eating you have to start at the beginning. The food, the binge – that’s the end of the cycle.

Step 1: Deal with your body image issues

It is well documented that eating disorders are linked to body dissatisfaction. It’s not the actual size of your body, but how you feel about your body.

Unfortunately, most of us get the idea that in order to like our bodies, we need to change our bodies. This likely stems from the promises of every weight loss and fitness program out there, but that’s a discussion (maybe rant) for another time. Self esteem comes from within.

Many binge eaters and bulimics have depression and/or anxiety. This makes it difficult to feel good about oneself. Body image issues and low self esteem are heightened during episodes of depression and anxiety.

If mental health issues are clouding that, then treating them is step one. Get your depression and/or anxiety treated. I’m a naturopathic doctor as well as a coach and mentor. I can tell you that there are many natural ways to balance chemistry and treat these conditions. If that doesn’t work, then go on meds. The downside of meds isn’t anywhere near the downsides of letting your binge eating continue any longer.

Step 2: Stop restricting

Please hear me – I did not say, “free-for-all food binge that doesn’t end.” The black and white thinking of eating disorders can mess with this concept.

Understand that humans value what is rare and coveted. It’s why certain metals and stones and art cost a fortune. If it’s hard to get, we want it more. Our fun little hormone called dopamine ramps up, and the pleasure of achieving/receiving the coveted item is heightened.

So, if you make a certain food “forbidden” then the dopamine response to that food will be greater. It will take more of it to satisfy and you will want it more often. You will think about it often, which just moves the cycle along.

How do you stop restricting without going off the deep end? With structure. With support. Learning to swim typically includes floaties and a lifeguard in the shallow end. Hire someone who has done it or at least worked with it. I am but one of many qualified people.

Step 3: Practice self care

By this I do not mean go get your nails done. While a lovely time out, it is not the self care that I mean.

Self care means addressing your NEEDS. Let me explain.

When you have to pee, how long does it take you to actually go to the bathroom and pee? (stop laughing)

When you are tired, do you rest or go to bed? NOT likely. You grab a snack and drop in front of the TV or do another load of laundry, right?

Eating more than your body needs is you trying to take care of yourself. Start taking care of what you really need and you won’t feel like you NEED more food.

Sounds simple enough? Start with peeing when you need to.

Join the Uprising! Applaud Your Bod is a closed Facebook group for women dealing with these issues. Find support and resources to help you along the way.

Until next time,

dr kerri

Live Life. Love Food. Be Free.

How To Stop Eating at Night

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Night eating is not an uncommon problem. Whether that’s eating from the time you get home from work until you go to bed, or from after the kids go down until the wee hours of the morning, or if it’s physically getting out of bed to go eat. All of it is very distressing and does a real number on someone’s self esteem.

“Why don’t I have any will power? What is wrong with me?”

Then the decision is made that tomorrow will be different. And that is where it all begins to fall apart. You see, typically the decision to “fix it” involves some sort of restriction in the diet.

When people have been dieting a while it’s not uncommon for them to have a small breakfast (if they eat one at all), then it’s an apple or carrot sticks for snacks, then a salad for lunch, then maybe another little vegetable snack in the afternoon. So, by the time they get home from work, they’ve had maybe 500 calories worth of food. Then they take on the task of cooking supper for the family and find themselves picking at the food or grabbing other things out of the fridge. So they serve themselves less than what they want for supper because they were just snacking in the kitchen. But the kitchen cupboards are still calling to them after they eat. They resist for a little while but it’s really distracting. It takes up all of the space in their head. They browse the cupboards one more time…

Once they start, they don’t stop. It could be a full out binge with frenzied chaos and complete loss of control. Or it could be a steady stream of food eaten systematically. Either way, at the end of the food, is another defeat. More shame. More promises of tomorrow being different. And the cycle starts again.

What if the solution was to eat more?

“Okay, hold on Kerri. I was with you right up until now. Eat more? Were you not paying attention? I eat too much!!”

Stay with me here. I’ll walk you through this idea.

The overwhelming urge to eat can be caused by a multitude of reasons. A big one is actual hunger. By eating light foods all day – veggies, fruit and maybe some tuna on your salad – you’ve put yourself in a deficit. You are REALLY hungry by the time you get home. The hormones that tell you that you’re hungry and full are completely whacked out. Now we’re talking caveman primal hunger. You’re ready to take down a buffalo and eat it raw kind of hungry.

Once you get into this “hangry” state, will power isn’t part of the conversation anymore. This is a hormone driven NEED to eat. Biology isn’t easily overcome in this state. Even a nutritious meal that is balanced will have a hard time over-riding this drive to eat.

By starting out your day with a hearty breakfast, full of fiber, fat and protein; followed by a hearty lunch less than 5 hours later; topped off with a decent after work snack (if supper is still a while away), you will be facing your evening with your hormones in check. Your body’s cues for hunger and fullness should be trustworthy (assuming sleep is adequate, but that’s another blog.)

And then, if you’re still reaching for food and browsing the cupboards, you can be more confident that you likely don’t really NEED food. That allows us to start uncovering the real reasons behind your overeating.

Until next time,

dr kerri

Live Life. Love Food. Be Free.

Meal Planning Without Dieting

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Can you reject dieting and still do meal planning?

This is a common question from my coaching clients and naturopathic patients alike. And it’s a great one!

Understandably, meal planning has some negative associations with dieting. It can be seen as restrictive and completely un-fun. (Is that a word? It should be.)

Here is my non-exhaustive list as to why meal planning can be a trigger for many Diet Rebels:

• It can lack spontaneity (What if I’m invited out for a meal?)
• A plan can feel like a diet (what to eat and when)
• Right up there with tracking food, a plan can trigger dieting thoughts (Enough veg? Too much fat? What plan should I follow?)

With that said, there are many pluses to using meal planning though. Here are a few highlights:

• Knowing what’s for supper can clear up a lot of daytime head space. (Seriously, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’ll have for dinner.)
• It can avoid ‘hangry’ moments (presuming you prepared some of the food ahead of time so you can grab and go.)
• Meal planning can save a lot of money (with no wasted garbage food, less take out.)

As long as you deal with the potential challenges, I believe menu planning is a great asset. I use meal planning weekly. So, here are 5 key tips to have meal planning work for you:

#1 The Satisfaction Factor

This is number one for a reason. It is really important to only put food on your plan that you look forward to eating. If you see it and go “ugh”, then it needs to be replaced.

#2 Keep It Fluid

It’s a guideline, not a strict set of rules. If you get invited out, go out. If you change your mind about a meal, swap days or just omit it and make something else. But this happens less frequently when you honour #1, The Satisfaction Factor. It will only be a diet if you look at it with rigidity.

#3 Who’s The New Kid On The Block?

Each week, try something new. The only way to discover what you like and what you don’t is to try new things. Cook something a new way. Try out a new vegetable, grain or meat. Ask a friend for their favorite recipe.

#4 No Rules Allowed

When planning your menu, there cannot be any old dieting rules included. If you like breakfast for dinner, then that’s what you should include. If you like burgers for breakfast – have at ‘er! Carbs and protein together? You betcha. Fruit with everything else? Oh yeah! Dessert after each meal? Of course darlin’, is there any other way?

#5 The Addition of Nutrition

Why is nutrition at the bottom of the list? Because as important as it is, you likely have so many rules that you no longer know what nutrition is. It’s so confusing with all of the conflicting advice. One thing remains clear – the average person does not consume enough vegetables. So once your plan is laid out, look for ways to add veggies WHILE maintaining enjoy-ability and excitement. Side dishes need not be boring. Go online a search out some recipes.

So, where do you start? I suggest that you make a list of all of the different meals that you enjoy. Ask your family what your favourites were growing up (maybe you really liked meatloaf or pierogies or stir fry.) What did you have for lunch before there were rules about how much bread you were allowed?

Once you have some different breakfast, lunch, dinners, and snacks to choose from, make a menu. Shop for what you need. Prepare what you can. And go with the flow.

Until next time,

dr kerri

Live Life. Love Food. Be Free.

Stop Weighing Yourself

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“Stop weighing myself? But how will I know if I’m on track?”

The scale is a double-edged sword. When it’s saying what you think that it should, it’s your friend and motivator. When it’s not saying what you want, it’s your nemesis.

A patient of mine, years ago, was doing a dieting ‘points program’. She was eating well, moving her body more, and at first, losing a bit of weight. Then after a couple of months, she started gaining. Each week she was adding weight. When I asked her how much, she said, “about 0.2 lbs. each week.” Huh? So, over the course of the summer, she had tormented herself. Desperately trying to figure out what she was doing wrong and she was angry at her body for not responding to her actions. At 0.2 lbs. per week, she had only gained 2 lbs. over the whole summer. TWO POUNDS!

Despite the fact that she was eating nutritious foods and moving her body more often, she still felt like a failure.

I asked the question: “Are you trying to be healthy or lose weight?” She said, “I want to lose weight to be healthy.”

Please understand that health and weight are not synonymous. I know that we’ve all been told that they are for decades, but we now know that it simply isn’t so. I will back that statement up in a moment, stay with me here.

Get clear on what your real goal is – health or weight?

If it’s really about health, then why are other measures not as important? What about mental health? Clearly this patient’s mental health had been compromised during this process. She felt defeated. She felt like a failure. Her body dissatisfaction rose each week. And I give her kudos because she didn’t quit as a result of her perceived failure. But it sure did a number on her self-esteem.

In my Naturopathic practice I work with many fertility patients. There is a study that I quote regularly to them. Two groups of obese woman were observed before IVF (in vitro fertilization.) One group exercised regularly, one group did not. Neither group lost weight and no changes in BMI were noted, as this was NOT a weight loss study. However, not only did the exercisers have more pregnancies, more importantly, they had more live births (take home babies.) To the tune of 24% live births in the exercisers versus 7% in the non-exercisers!

What can be so damaging about measuring weight as the success outcome, is that many of these women would have given up on exercising when their body didn’t change. And that means that they would’ve missed out on the positive HEALTH outcome. Or they may have compromised their mental health while sticking to it.

Did you know that being overweight is actually associated with LOWER mortality rates? Yes, you heard me correctly. Being overweight leads to better health outcomes. What? That’s not what we’ve been told.

So, get clear on what your goals are. Is it really about your body size? If it is, that’s fine. But don’t go around saying that it’s about health, because it’s not.

If you’re really about improving your health, then measure health, not size.

What you can measure instead of your size?

Here are a few to get you started:

  1. You can measure, by tracking, how many times you moved your body and meditated. The more consistently you do this, the more on track you are. Both of these activities lead to better health outcomes.
  2. You can keep track of your energy, sleep, and mood. All are measures of health.
  3. You can keep track of how many days you honoured your basic needs like going to the bathroom when you had to, or eating regularly spaced meals.
  4. Other measures like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugars, heart rate (although some of these can be challenged as well and shouldn’t be looked at in isolation.)
  5. Endurance – Can you walk longer, do more push ups, hold plank longer? These are all good indicators that you are on track.

There are so many ways to determine if you are moving towards health. Weight is tremendously low on the list of useful tools.

What will you start to measure instead of your weight? Who would be willing to share here in the comments?

Until next time,

Live Life. Love Food. Be Free.

Kerri

The Body Positive Movement – Is It Healthy? A Response to The National Sunday Talk

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Plus size models are going mainstream. I watched “The Sunday Talk” on “The National” last night with deep interest as they discussed the growing popularity of The Body Positive Movement.

Check out the video.

Let me begin with the comments being left. This is the heart of the issue. Nasty comments about the “fat cows”, the “fat slobs”, and the “fatties taxing our health care system.” They are fat shaming without any reserve. The people commenting like this only show their ignorance on the issue at hand.

Research about health issues of being fat are consistently quoted to support this fat shaming attitude. This included many comments made by panelist Tasha Kheiriddin from The National Post. Here are my research-based rebuttals to dispute the argument that tries to put down The Body Positive Movement.

  1. Dieting Leads to Weight Gain

We know that dieting leads to weight gain in 95% of people. Only a small minority are able to maintain a weight loss without surgery and typically that weight loss is a mere 2 pounds. Traci Mann at the University of Minnesota revealed this to us through all of her research. What if we stopped telling young women to lose weight? Maybe we could prevent the weight gain in the first place since we know that we are literally dieting ourselves fat.

  1. Shame is Directly Linked to Binge Eating Behaviour

Feeling ashamed and poor body image is directly coupled with binge eating episodes according to a study published in the December issue of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. Shaming these women and dismissing the Body Positive Movement is therefore adding to the issue. If we would like to help these people change their eating behaviour and promote health, then we can help them by stopping the fat shaming.

  1. Being Overweight Lowers Mortality Risk

Being fat does not equal being unhealthy. By itself, extra weight is not a marker for increased risk of mortality. Only the morbidly obese are excluded from this argument (class 2 and 3). In fact, being overweight is actually associated with reduced mortality compared to normal weight individuals.

These are only a few of the evidence-based arguments to stop the fat shaming “in the name of health.” This approach is not working. There are many more.

The Body Positive Movement has the potential to change lives!

Having women of all sizes modeling clothes is practical. As a consumer, it is very frustrating to not be able to see yourself represented. I wear a size 14 for the most part. When I online shop I can rarely find a model close to my size displaying the clothes that I would like to purchase. It results in a lot of returns since a shirt and skirt look very different on a size 0 model than they do on my body.

As I made mention above, the possibilities for the teens and 20 year olds are exciting. If I had not believed that my size 6 body was fat back when I was a teenager, I would not have dieted myself into a size 14.

I watched my Mom diet and speak poorly about her body. We know that this increases the likelihood of disordered eating. By stopping the fat talk and learning to appreciate and celebrate all sizes, we can make a serious difference in the next generation.

When acceptance and self-love are implemented as a treatment strategy, people stop hurting themselves with food. Sure, there may be a quick pendulum swing to overeating when women first stop dieting and body shaming, but it will swing back. People who love themselves, take care of themselves.

So thank you Scaachi Koul at Buzzfeed for supporting this movement and “The National” for bringing it to a larger audience. Women of all ages are deeply affected by this in many positive ways.

Yours in Health,

Live Life. Love Food. Be Free.

Kerri