Binge Eating Disorder and Self-Care

Self-care can help defeat binge eating disorder triggers and cause you to act less negatively towards yourself. Self-care is important with anyone with binge eating disorder or other mental health problems and the benefits of slowing down, taking care of yourself, and allowing yourself time to breathe can't be overstated. What have you done to take care of yourself and your binge eating disorder today?

What Is Self-Care? How Can It Help Binge Eating Disorder?

Self-care for your mental health is exactly what it sounds like; taking care of yourself. Sometimes self-care can mean taking a shower or eating a healthy meal. Other times it can mean relaxing and giving yourself a break. Occasionally, we get so busy and caught up in life that we don't stop to take care of ourselves until there's already a significant problem and we've suffered as a result of it. With binge eating disorder, a lack of self-care can sometimes have devastating consequences.

Binges can be triggered by any number of things. I comfort eat when I'm stressed. So it's important for me to realize that I'm starting to feel stressed and take a step back before I get so stressed that I can't stop eating and damage my health. Although my gastric surgery has stopped my more ridiculous binges, there are still ways for me to harm my health by overeating and grazing. So I pay close attention to how I'm feeling in order to keep myself from losing control.

How Do I Manage My Binge Eating Disorder with Self-Care?

This is a question that you can work on with your doctor or therapist that works with you on your binge eating disorder. Everyone has different ways to self-care. Think about activities that you really enjoy, things you love to do and things that make you feel at peace and satisfied. For me, writing is a huge part of my self-care. I love to do it, even for work. So if I want to relax, I often look at my list of ideas and prompts and pick out something fun to write about.

Lots of people enjoy art or music, some people love to accomplish a list of tasks, others like to clean or play a sport. Whatever makes you feel at your best, that does not harm you, can be part of your self-care and help binge eating disorder. I have one friend that tries something new as her self-care. She might go to a new restaurant or visit a place that she's never been to. For her, the variety and excitement of new things is what she enjoys. It might take a while to find what works for you, but it can be an enjoyable and rewarding journey.

Is Self-Care for Binge Eating Disorder Just Self-Indulgence?

Self-care for binge eating disorder is absolutely not just self-indulgence. There is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself. Don't let anyone tell you're selfish or spoiled for taking time you need to relax and recover your strength. Often I find that people who believe this don't have mental health problems and can't fathom why someone would need some time out for themselves. But everyone, mentally ill or not, needs self-care. So take care of yourself and never feel guilty about it.

How I Self-Care for My Binge Eating Disorder

I've been having a really busy week, between my three jobs and my social life, all while dealing with the comorbidity of binge eating disorder and bipolar. So I decided to take a day out just for me to relax.

Here's my video about my kind of self-care for binge eating disorder. If self-care is new for you, take some time today to think about what really makes you happy and feel good and commit yourself to doing something just for you.

https://youtu.be/fy4KE8Cn9Ac

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