All of us, at one time or another, have had a good binge. We have literally eaten anything and everything we can get our hands on. Rifled through cupboards, bought obscene amounts on a supermarket run, stuffed ourselves with things we would not even consider normal.

Sometimes this may be done in private, hiding it from other family members, making an excuse to nip out and then secretly stuffing our faces in the car.

Last night I went for a walk with my lad and as we stood at the little pedestrian crossing in the Tesco car park a car drove through, oblivious to me and Flynn and ignoring the fact WE had right of way BUT as the car went past there was an overweight woman driving and literally she must have been trying to stuff 5 Pringles in her mouth at once. SO obsessed with getting the food in that she had just bought she didn’t even see us.

And that scene is what has prompted me to write this!

We binge simply through deprivation. There are some emotional triggers and behavioural issues at play however they are formed out of what was originally, deprivation.

You are on a diet, you go too hard, you deprive yourself of too much and eventually a little thought pops in your head about eating those biscuits. That thought becomes an overwhelming desire and eventually the whole packet goes.

Then, because you have had the biscuits, and the diet day is ruined, and you will start again tomorrow, you go hunting to get EVERYTHING in, get it out your system, because you know that tomorrow, it’s back to deprivation.

And therein lies the problem AND the answer.

Binging starts because you are going TOO hard on your diet, it’s too extreme, you’re not allowing yourself the foods you love and you are hungry.

For most people completely giving up chocolate because you think it’s ‘bad’ doesn’t work. It works for a few days but then you crave and ultimately binge.

If however you had allowed yourself a little bit each night, with your cup of tea watching Love Island, you would NOT be deprived, you would stand a fighting chance.

And ultimately, the point of this post is as follows:

All of this happens because you see foods as GOOD or BAD, DIET or NON DIET, and that is WRONG. You cut something out because you think it isn’t diet food and is bad for you but then you crave it.

So stop. If you love chocolate, HAVE SOME. You love wine, HAVE SOME. As long as it fits in your plan, include it.

But if your plan does NOT allow you to eat chocolate, and you have been eating chocolate every day for years, you COULD be on the wrong plan FOR YOU!

So, allow yourself your treats, make them fit your plan, and the need and urge to binge should pass, or at the very least, reduce. Stop classifying food as good or bad, it’s simply food as far as fat loss goes. I promise you.