I won't let my body out be outwait everything that I'm made done, won't spend my life trying to change. I'm learning love who I am again. I'm strong, I feel free, I know every part of me. It's beautiful. And then we'll always out way if you feel it, but yours are, She'll some love to the d why get there? Take you one day? Ana? Did you? And die out way?
Happy Saturday?
Outweigh Amy here And I'm with Leanne Allington and this is a new series. It's gonna be five parts and it is Binge Free Brain, so B F B and I think that defining binge Leanne is a great place to start. And in this first part we're going to get into mistakes about healing binge eating. And I am a recover binge eater and I know that my brain played a huge role in that, but I never really knew that until I read Brain over Binge, which was
an impactful book when it came to my healing. So I'm very excited about what Leanne has put together for us, the binge Free Brain.
So let's define binge.
Yeah, I know a lot of women that I talked to. The first thing to say is well, it's not necessarily.
An outright binge.
You know, I'm not sitting there and driving through McDonald's and you know, getting four I've almost haid whoppers, but that would be big Max.
But you know what I'm saying.
So a lot of times our brain just feels out of control and it's excessively consuming something or it feels almost compulsive. So that would be one definition of binge, even if it's not necessarily in one you know setting or the volume that my people think is associated with a binge. But the other definition of binge that I feel like really gives us a lot of clarity around this is when something controls you more than you feel
like you control it. And that's where a lot of women when it comes to food, and.
I know one of the parts of this five part series we'll be talking specifically about the difference between men and women when it comes to this, and men have disordered eating as well. They have eating disorders they binge eat, but it is interesting where women fall in that, So we'll get into that in an upcoming week. But what are some of the mistakes that we're making in this
healing process? And thank you for defining it because you know, I think that's a great place to start, is knowing, Okay, if you don't have control over something like even if you're binging shopping, or you're binging TV or shows over it and over, why are you just mindlessly going on to the next And that's how I would feel. It's almost like this zombie type state where I was mindlessly grabbing the next thing from the pantry or next thing.
I know, yes, I was going through a different drive through when I just went through a different place and it was very out of body out I just combined three different things, a zombie, out of body, and mindless.
But it feel to find it absolutely and that's why it's.
So I'm glad that you brought up the definition of binge because sometimes even just that word we might not associate with it. But I don't want you to discount yourself. If you are struggling and you're in that cycle where you feel like it's almost like an out of body, out of control experience, this is going to be very relevant to you. And so there's a few different mistakes that people make, but you know, the top three that come up are you know, the first one is really
treating it like it's a will power problem. This is where I tell women like you could be the most strong, willed and powerful woman that if you experience this specific firing and wiring in your brain, it doesn't matter, because willpower will last you for a couple of days, maybe
a couple of weeks if you're really strong. Right, But willpower is something that we have a finite source of, and we don't have the ability to just endlessly reproduce willpower, and so it eventually runs out right, and so relying on it for long term change it sets you up for frustration and really that bounce back, that that update down in out that binge restrict cycle, because the restriction is a lot of times what comes off the back of the over eating or the mindless eating or the
zombie eating or whatever it.
Is for us.
But that being said too, like playing food police and using willpower all the time, it's exhausting. It's no way to live, right, And so I don't want people to think that trying to rely on willpower is the strategy, because it's no way to live as well.
Yeah, I experienced that it only got me so far. To your point, I would be able to go a certain amount of days. But then I was right back to my pattern, my behavior, and there was no stopping it until I had an understanding of what was happening inside my brain and I thought, oh, okay, yeah, my willpower is only going to get.
Me so far.
Absolutely, And when we think that it's a willpower thing, but then we aren't able to use willpower against it, then we think, oh, I'm a failure.
This is just me.
This is how it's always going to be.
And it leads into those beliefs that we're going to cover in a future a week as well.
I'm weak and I this is just how it's going to be the rest of my life, and this is just who I am. And I'm the only person that is probably suffering in this way or whatever.
And trust me, you're not alone. You're not the only person.
Absolutely, And so that's where we just want to bring that to awareness of, like, you know, instead of looking at as a willpower thing, what if the answer the solution was to actually not fight your sugar cravings or your food cravings. And I know that might sound a little bit counterintuitive, right, but part of it is when you reprogram your brain and give it what it really needs in those moments. And as you're learning, food is not what it really needs, it will never fill those voids,
or maybe you're becoming aware of it. But when you give your brain what it really needs and fill in those gaps and be emotionally available to yourself in those moments, the sugar cravings and the compulsions will disappear eventually on their own once you feed your brain what it really needs. And the hint here is your brain is not really craving food. It's craving something that's deeper embedded in the firing and wiring in your brain, which will also cover in future episodes.
Yeah, and also I just feel like this is a good point to mention, like these ten minutes on a Saturday where you're listening to this and this five part series isn't a replacement for further care that you may need or further work. This is to accompany the work that you're doing and the support that you're receiving from elsewhere, whatever that may look like.
So I just want to be clear about that.
And it's also just Leanne and I, I mean, she works in this field and she has a stressless leading program, and it's her life's mission to work with people women, mostly to try to empower them with the knowledge and the information to live. I feel like to exhale and not have to worry about some of these things. I
am just someone that has experienced it. So at the end of the day, we're two friends of yours that have walked through this ourselves, and we're just trying to offer a resource, a tool, stuff to keep in your back pocket. But again, Land's one doing the work more on the backside with clients and everything.
So just know, this is just in addition to.
Right, absolutely, and this is the kind of stuff that I wish somebody had told me. You know, I went to the counselors and the programs, and I went to overeaters anonymous, I mean, and you name it. And these are the kinds of things that weren't being talked about because it was looked at as such a food problem. And that's actually a really good segue into the next myth is that when you're demonizing foods in your brain, that's another thing that's going to actually make the problem
harder and worse. And so I think a lot of times when you're looking at it as a food problem, we label things as danger foods, or when we're looking at as a willpower thing, we look at it as there's like good, right, wrong, black, white, all or nothing kind of mentality that we need to use willpower against. And demonizing that or thinking of things as dangerous is actually going to further ingrain the problem, and it's actually
going to most likely trigger even more cravings. And so trying to commit to giving up certain foods or sugar all together, that's a big one. I hear a lot of women are like, I need to just completely abstain from sugar.
Or it's this is all given an example for me, it was, okay, this is the last day I'm ever having sugar, and from here on out, I am never having it again because it is bad and I am bad today for eating it. But tomorrow I'm going to be good and eat the good to foods. And so I demonize not only myself but also the food I was consuming, because then when I inevitably would go back to eating sugar, then I was bad again, and it's the cycle of good and bad and good and bad.
Yeah, you make such a good point, because we're not just demonizing the foods. There's shame in that we are demonizing ourselves, making ourselves wrong, you know, And that's where the shame is. And oftentimes secrecy too, because if we're doing something air quotes bad, we think we need to
hide it. And that's why mine was such a source of shame as well, Like no one knew that I was, you know, binge eating cookies in my closet, so to speak, my metaphorical closet, because I was trying to show everyone that I was ordering salad. So it does become this kind of personal thing. And so, well, what's the alternative? And I know it sounds kind of daunting because it's like, leanne, if I've been thinking about food as good, bad, right, wrong,
healthy and healthy my entire life, what's the alternative? And the way I describe it is you've got to teach your brain a new language, Like if you've been metaphorically speaking Spanish, you know, good, bad, right, wrong?
Should shouldn't?
You need to teach it a new way of thinking. And really, what that looks like is a new decision making process, right because the good, bad, right, wrong, it has become a decision making process. Okay, is it good? Yes, is it bad then it's a no. Or if it's bad and it's still a yes, then I'm bad.
Right.
So it becomes this decision making process where it's if this, then that right. So we literally need to redirect and teach our brain a new way to make decisions, which, in the nutshell of it, it's stop telling our brain what we think we know and ask it better questions so that it.
Will learn a new program.
It's kind of like a computer, you know, if you want to give it a new program to spit out, you've got to update your software new software, And that's kind of a metaphor for this. But this time around, when you're teaching your brain a new language, make sure that it's one that gets easier the more you practice it, and you get better at it, the more you practice it, so that you can just practice it less and lessen It just be comes your way of thinking versus dieting,
restricting willpower control. It never gets easier, our brain never learns it. It never becomes a new way of thinking.
Yeah, I like to use the software thing to I've heard a few people reference that recently, and it resonated with me for sure, because you wouldn't operate from a cell phone and whatever system it had from let's go all the way back to two thousand and six, because some people have been living, you know, eighteen twenty twenty five years with an eating disorder or longer. So let's just go back to when cell phones really first came around,
which for me nineteen ninety nine. I know they existed before that, but it was around that time where everybody kind of started to have their own and it was like a little no Kia or whatever.
Literally the year I was thinking and the no Kio's mind, and.
So act as if we were here in twenty twenty four operating on what we had available with a cell phone. And I think that sometimes we get stuck in that and we live in that, but you wouldn't ever stay with that technology. You have advanced and so when we fault to our old technology and we're just like, well, this is just how I'm wired, This is just who
I am. To me when I would behave that way, and I can say it now, I was just me not wanting to face the music or put in the work to update my software, to grow to you know, have new experiences and to live a different type of life. And sure I could still be talking on that cell phone if I wanted to probably be easier, I would have to deal with all this other stuff and these updates and whatnot. But look at what I would be
missing out on and how much faster everything is. And when our brains are bogged down by all this other stuff, we're operating at a slower level. We're stuck in the past, and we're not able to be present and live in the moment.
And so you know, for me, I don't know.
It's kind of fun to picture yourself like do I want to really walk around with my little Nokia phone? Which I do want to. On that note, there's some fun, There is simplicity in that. So that's a different type of analogy of taking it back and maybe not being dependent on it. But think of our computers and how much they've advanced and how much leverage your life is.
And that's what I want y'all to feel, is like, oh, if I upgrade my software, my life is going to be more efficient, it's going to be more enjoyable, it's going to be easier. And so getting rid of some of these myths, it's a huge or mistakes that we're making, excuse me, is a huge part in you updating your software and teaching your brain that new language and getting it firing and wiring at the optimal level.
Absolutely, And like here's the thing. Could I do long division with a piece of paper and a pen? Absolutely, But I'm spending so much brain power doing that when I could break out my iPhone and do it in thirty seconds or less then, right, And so it's about leveraging. I mean, our brain is the most powerful supercomputer there is. Like talk about technology, it's infinite, right, And so it's
about leverage. It's about really working smarter, not harder, so that your brain does the heavy lifting for you so that you don't have to think about it anymore. Like that's what we're talking about, is that freedom that piece so you can go use that mental real estate on other things.
Which is huge.
Yeah, because I mean we can probably both have like a long testimony about how much brain space was taken up by food and body image thoughts and how much we missed out on because yeah, it took up Everything's true, and it was so exhausting totally. And so what about the final and third mistake?
Yeah, It's a perfect segue because you know, what we were just talking about is really upgrading your software and looking at it like it's a brain solution rather than a willpower or food solution. But the other thing, the other mistake that I went down was thinking that it was strictly a psychological problem. And so here's the thing. The problem, as we were talking about, is deep in
the brain. It's in our programming, right, It's also in your nervous system and your beliefs, which we're going to talk about in future episodes. And until you address that, the other things will keep coming back with a vengeance.
And so this is also noting that, like, there's so many benefits to taking a psychological and a therapy based approach to different things, But if all you do is look at it like that, you're going to ignore the deeper fired and wired patterns in your brain that are creating the psychologus, that are creating the physiological that are
creating the emotional components that are happening downstream. We're so in it, like, we're so deeply embedded in it that we think like this feels physical, this physiological pull that I have to sugar, or this feels, you know, psychological, because I feel crazy, But it's the neurological components that are going higher up in the brain like upstream, that's
what's causing all of this downstream stuff. And if we look at it just like it's a purely psychological or even purely physiological thing, we're still going to continue solving the wrong problem. And we've got to solve the right problem on making sure that that's happening in the brain.
And so what do we do instead?
We instead address the cause and effect root that's causing all of this downstream stuff that's embedded in our nervous system, because even though it feels mental and physical, it's actually a brain thing.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
There could be other components than just the brain thing in people's lives, depending on what happened in their life that maybe then food became a tool for them to get through, like if they're filling the void, like I'm trying to think of the best way there you go. That's the word coping mechanism. Food became that. So there could be other stuff that you need to talk through,
work through. There's talk, therapy, there's different things. But I see how for me, I can speak to this and I can see how it's likely the case for a lot of people. My brain developed a pattern of binging and then I became dependent on it. But it was because I was so restrictive in my teenage years when my brain was developing, and so then that's where I was just constantly living in the animal part of my brain.
So that was my experience.
But again, I guess I'm just cautious because it is such a sensitive thing, and I know you sure just too LM that there's there could be many many layers, of course, and this is one of them. And depending on when and how food came into your life as this coping mechanism, there could be other things that are very beneficial for you to work through that are very
personal or that happened specifically to you. That's not just about the wire wiring is yeah, So yeah, no, this is no, that's such a perfect point.
And I think it's really important what you just said. And part of it is like, if there's an emotional experience that happens and we've learned to use food as a coping mechanism to fill those voids, until we address that the residue, so to speak, we are going to constantly be having to put fires out, put fires out without addressing the cause of the fire. So it's not like just a brain thing. What I'm saying is it is three dimensional. There is the physiological and psychological components
to it that have to be addressed. But until you address the kind of neurological residue that's gotten left, your brain will keep doing its thing without you. So it's like an it's not an either or it's an end.
Yeah.
Well that was what was so fascinating to me years ago when I read Brain over Binge as she had done all kinds of therapy as did I, and was trying to figure out like, oh, well, this that happened in my life is clearly the reason why I am doing this, And she kept trying to solve that, and it wasn't until she understood the brain that she had
healing exactly. But I will say, everybody's on their own journey, and it might be that if you get healing in a certain area, it clicks and you're like, oh, okay, but I think it's important to work on it all. Sure, No, I'm just probably overlying. No, it's sensitive to making sure that we cover all those bases.
Yeah, I think it's.
Great because you're right, it's one of those things where it's such a personal experience, you know. And I was the same way, Like I was psychoanalyzing my problems to death and until I understood like how things it was the cause and effect that was causing it all, and the emotional stuff was a big part of that. It was like a cocktail almost. I was always going to
be missing the ingredient. I was always going to have to be kind of mindsetting my way through it until I was able to address the mindset and the brain set so that it could my brain could do the heavy lifting for me without me having to think about it so much.
Awesome, And we'll be back next Saturday for another chat about this.
What are we going to be doing next week?
Yeah, we're going to be talking about the binge free brain beliefs because there's three main beliefs that come alongside it that you could be doing all Actually a lot more of the mindset kind of psychological piece of the puzzle that you could address the system of thinking. But if you have any underlying beliefs that are keeping you stuck in these patterns, it will continue to sabotage your efforts.
So we're going to be getting into more of the psychological mindset belief piece of the puzzle next week.
And y'all make sure to check out Lean's other podcast. It's called What's God Got to Do with It? And a lot of great interviews up there, a lot of inside of yeah, just life and hey kind of questioning, well, What's God got to do with it? Leanne is brilliant and I think that she has a lot to offer, So I encourage all to go check that out. And then where else can people find you?
Yeah, I'm over on Instagram Liann Ellington.
But also if you do want to learn about how to turn off the part of your brain that's obsessed with food and really rewire your brain for peace and freedom, you can check out the Stressless Seeding preview where I've just really peeled back the curtain and showed the system that I teach my clients over at Stresslessseeding dot com.
Awesome. Okay, see y'all next Saturday. Bye bye,