Binge Eating Breakthrough

In this episode, we explore my story about why I chose to keep my secret eating habits hidden from my husband until after we were married.

Secret eating is a common struggle, and it's understandable to feel hesitant about sharing this part of yourself with someone else. If you've never discussed your secret eating with anyone before, I want to provide you with valuable insights to consider as you navigate the decision of whether or not to open up.

Throughout this episode, I aim to equip you with practical tools to facilitate the process of talking to your loved ones about your secret eating. Here are a few key takeaways:

1. Evaluate your reasons for sharing: It's crucial to identify whether your motivation to reveal your secret eating is strong and meaningful to you. Take the time to understand your own reasons and ensure that you genuinely resonate with them.
2. Choose your confidant wisely: Decide who you feel comfortable sharing your secret with and why you specifically want to confide in them. Selecting the right person can make a significant difference in your journey toward breaking free from shame and developing a fresh perspective on your eating habits.
3. The power of sharing: Several of my clients have experienced a profound shift in their relationship with food by openly discussing their binging struggles with loved ones. Sharing their experiences helped remove the weight of shame, enabling them to gain new insights and perspectives on their behavior.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

The topic of perfection for this week’s episode was inspired by my recent guest podcast interview on Side Gig School, where I spoke about how perfectionism showed up for me when I was first certified as a coach and wanted to start my business. Last year, I did a masterclass on how perfectionism perpetuates binge eating, and this topic resonated so much with my attendees, who struggled with their relationship with food. 

In this episode, I talk about perfection and the four steps on how to overcome perfectionism that perpetuates binge eating.

Here are a few takeaways from this episode:

• Perfectionists tend to achieve LESS and stress MORE than regular high achievers.
• Use the power of your BRAIN to notice and shift your default pattern of thinking.
• Perfectionism may be one key component keeping you stuck in the cycle of binging.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

This episode is inspired by a recent experience that I had while doing a half-marathon. In this episode, we will be expanding on what I talked about in Episode 24 about your identity as an eater. We talk about what happens when things get hard. 

On our journey through life, we are going to have obstacles and challenges. Things will not always go the way we want them to. So the question is - what do you do when that happens?

Here are a few takeaways from this episode:

• Thinking that we need everything to be in control is an attempt at protecting ourselves.
• There are many things we can't control - but one thing we can always control is our reaction to any circumstance. How we show up and who we are in the face of whatever happens in our lives.
• The way you think about your urges and the way you relate to them is everything. If you can shift one thing - see your urges as a challenge, as the opportunity for growth and new pathways.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

As I record this episode, it is my 22nd wedding anniversary. As I reflect on what this day means to me, I thought it would be a great way to introduce how to handle milestone dates or anniversaries.  Every year is full of milestone dates that have different meanings to each of us. For some people, looking at milestone dates and anniversaries can be very powerful and feel expansive, and for others it can be a very challenging time.

Here are a few takeaways from this episode:
Most of our pain and suffering come from a place of insufficiency. Thinking it's not good enough or you didn’t do enough.

You will know if you are in lack and insufficiency based on how it feels.

Decide ahead of time how you want to feel, and be intentional to create an experience from a place of sufficiency and enoughness.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

If you've been listening to this podcast for a while and you've thought to yourself, I wonder what it would be like to work with Jane on my eating challenges, then this episode for you!

In this episode I share a bit about what it's like to work with a coach, more specifically what it's like to work with me. I know many of you might be feeling reluctant to talk about your eating challenges because you feel shame or judgment, but it doesn’t have to be this way. You can cultivate a new relationship with yourself and with food. 

Here are some takeaways from this episode:

• One of the primary benefits of coaching is to become aware of certain patterns of thinking that you may not have even realized, which I can help you with in our first coaching session together.
• Coaching with me can help you understand your patterns of behavior to go along with your awareness, which sets you up for the possibility of true, lasting, impactful and sustainable change. 
• To find out more about working with me visit https://www.janepilger.com/work-with-me

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

In this week’s episode, we're talking about a topic that can truly impact whether you are creating success for yourself or whether you are unintentionally keeping yourself in the patterns of eating you are so desperate to get out of. 

In this episode we explore the question -  how do you measure progress? If you are listening to this podcast, I am going to assume that you have some patterns around food that you would like to change like stopping binge eating or feeling out of control around food.

Some takeaways from this episode:

• As you develop new patterns and new relationships, some of the old patterns will want to resurface sometimes. This is totally normal and is just how change works.
• The ultimate progress is shifting how you see yourself as an eater. It's a new relationship with yourself and with food. So, evaluate your progress in that area - look at the relationship.
• The other area where you might want to measure progress is the scale. You can listen to Episode 19 for my thoughts about the scale as a measure of progress and how to decide if it is a helpful tool for you.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

In this episode, I speak about your identity as an eater-why it is important, how you see yourself, and knowing what type of identity you want to have so that you can become someone new. Get ready for a new perspective that will help you move forward toward your goals of being the person you wish to become.

Here are a few takeaways from this episode: 

•  Most of the world has it wrong - they focus on what to do first - eat this, don't eat that. If that worked - we wouldn't need this podcast. Instead, you create your identity with your mind. Who do you want to become?
• If you don't create a new identity, you will keep repeating your past behaviors. If you want to become someone new, this starts with who you are being, not what you are doing. 
• It's about a relationship - your relationship with food and your relationship with yourself. 

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

Today I answer a question I get a lot - what is the difference between binging and overeating? 

I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice. If you feel like what you are doing with food is extremely detrimental to your mental or physical health, I encourage you to seek advice from a medical professional. 

What I share on my podcast is my own perspective and is based upon my personal experience as well as that of helping many others. If, after listening to this podcast, you want to get more into specific definitions, diagnoses, and more, the internet will provide no shortage of information for you to learn more. 

Here are a few takeaways from today’s episode:

• Binges can look very different for different people. Binges can be as short as a handful of minutes, and they can also last for hours or off and on for days or longer. One of the other hallmarks of a binge is the feeling of being unable to stop. It feels like you are out of control and is often a dissociative experience where you may not even remember the act of eating itself.

• If you purge, I encourage you to reach out for support. Especially if you purge through vomiting and have been doing this for an extended period of time, there are very real physical health consequences to your mouth and to your GI tract. These are often unseen but can have a lasting and very serious impact. I know it can be hard to talk to someone about binging and especially purging. Do your research and make sure that you are talking to someone who can support you in a compassionate way.

• What is overeating? It can show up as eating beyond what your body needs.  Overeating can be a lot of food, either because there is simply a lot to choose from or it tastes good, and you don't want to stop. You also may think that you only get this once a year, so they might as well eat what they can like on Thanksgiving. That feeling at the end of the meal when you know you are a bit more full than you would like - that's an overeat. 

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

In this episode I talk about a common struggle of women who feel confused and conflicted about their relationship with food. I had a conversation with a potential client who summed up this struggle perfectly with the statement, "I feel so confused and conflicted."

There are two approaches that women often take when it comes to their relationship with food. The first approach involves dieting, which usually comes from a place of hating one's body and thinking it needs to be smaller. This is a common struggle among women who want to lose weight or have tried dieting but have yet to find lasting success. 

The second approach is the anti-diet movement, which involves eating anything and everything one desires and conveying that wanting something different for one's body is wrong.

Both approaches involve giving the middle finger to something - either the body or the diet industry. This judgmental approach is not conducive to lasting change and often leads to disconnection from the physical body. Instead, I encourage you to take a more compassionate approach to your body and focus on physical and emotional health.

The body positivity movement has important messages about loving and caring for one's body but also cautions against any approach that involves judging oneself or others. Ultimately, I encourage you, my listener, to find a balance between caring for your bodies and finding confidence in who they are as whole beings.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today. 

Does it ever feel like there are multiple versions of you? Like you have a part of yourself that really wants to eat in a way that is nourishing or feels good in your body, and then you have a part of you that doesn't care in the moment and wants to escape into food?

Have you found yourself in the middle of a binge telling yourself that you will feel terrible later or you will regret this, but at that moment, you don't care? That part of you that wants to binge is way louder and way more convincing than the part that knows there will be consequences to this behavior.

There is nothing wrong with you. We all have different parts. I am not a licensed therapist or an expert in this field. This is not medical advice. If it feels like you experience something more extreme as it relates to your experience of yourself showing up in different ways sometimes, please seek professional guidance and support.

In this episode, we talk about this topic because any of us who binge or struggle with feeling out of control around food sometimes have a part of us that wants to binge, even while there is another part that doesn't. You are not alone. This is normal.

Here are a few takeaways from this episode:

• Think about when you started binging or feeling out of control around food. What do you suppose you needed at that time? 
• We think that if we just put that part of us in the closet and try to pretend it doesn't exist that it will just go away. But that's not how it works. We must bring it out of the closet and get curious about it.
• Learn how to stop fighting with the part of you that binges. Bring awareness to it by taking it out of the closet, getting curious about it, understanding it, and seeing how you can address its needs in a way that is more honoring and nourishing for yourself - both physically and emotionally.

Learn how to find ways to honor and nourish yourself and all its parts-even if those are parts of you that you want to hide from.

Want to know why you struggle with food and what to do next? Start watching The Food Freedom Mini Series today.