Re: Looking for some guidance... Legalizing Foods

March 24, 2009

>

> This works for some - but it can backfire. Have you read " overcoming

overeating " ? Basically the principle behind the book is that if you let

yourself eat as much as you want of your binge food, you'll eventually get sick

of it and stop wanting it.

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Well, Not exactly. Legalizing foods doesn't mean you are supposed to eat it

until you are sick of it (or just sick.) Legalizing a food means that you make

it " not off-limits " and so it becomes just like any other food. Not something

forbidden and perhaps desirable, or rewarding, or secretly fascinating, or

rebellious. As Katcha's says, it become's just, well, food. You might need to

eat a lot of it, you might not need to eat it at all in order to legalize it.

One of my " things " was Chik-Fil-A. Oh so yummy and SO off-limits. I wanted

Chick-Fil-A everyday, and struggled not to pull in the drive through when I

drove past it (usually starving) when I made my post office run for work. When I

legalized it, I told myself I could eat Chik-Fil-A everyday if I wanted it.

Guess what, I eaten Chick-Fil-A maybe twice in the past year. I didn't need to

eat it until I was sick of it. I didn't need to eat it at all. All I needed to

do was tell myself that it was not something forbidden and desirable and I

didn't want it anymore.

M & M's on the other hand, I did want. It was one of my binge foods, and when I

legalized it, I went through a lot of M & M's. I had at least 5 bags of M & M's

around ALL the time. At work, in my purse, at home, etc. If I ate one, I bought

another one. Always keeping at least 5 bags on hand. After a while, it was just

like, " ok, there they are, want any? No, I don't guess so, they are always

there, so no big deal. " I wasn't sick of them, I still liked them, I just didn't

*need* them. It's been over a year since I started this process, and I still

have bags of M & M's in various places. I still eat them occasionally, and I still

like them, but I don't *care* about them.

So, the prinicpal is not to " get sick of " you binge food, though this may happen

as a side effect. The principle is to equalize your binge foods or craving foods

or any foods that have special meaning for you with foods that don't. This may

or may not involve acually eating them.

Meg

IE Since Feb. '08

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