Quote of the Week

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You're caught in a cycle of restrict --> binge --> shame --> restrict.

'Restrict' can take the form of a fad diet, a 'detox', or simply extreme calorie restriction. You do GREAT for a while, then you find yourself losing control and binging. And then you feel shame and guilt, so you double down on your restriction efforts.

Most people, when they recognize this pattern, attempt to stop the cycle at the binge. "If I can just avoid binging this time, I'll finally succeed".

Binging is a normal physiological response to restriction.

You can stop the cycle, but you'll have better luck stopping it if you stop it at the restrict stage.

When you take a healthy, balanced, MODERATE approach to eating, the binging begins to fade away. It may not stop immediately, but it'll get less severe, and further apart, and then one day you'll realize that you haven't binged in weeks and weeks and weeks.

Do you feel hopeless at the thought that you will be caught in this cycle forever? Stop the cycle at the restrict stage. And if you do binge, stop the shame. Without the restriction, there will be no trigger for the binge. And without the shame, there will be no trigger for the restriction. And you will drift toward balance.

-Amber Rogers