Day Twenty Seven!!

Whew! I am happy to announce that I have officially lost dunduhdundudunduduuuu! 13lbs!
I know I know, hold the virtual applause. I’m so hopeful that one day I can be featured on a magazine, “how to lose 13lbs in basically a month! And you are one step closer to everyone loving you!” I’m joking of course. But I’m feeling very proud of my accomplishment, if not a little peeved at all those ridiculous weight loss miracle magazines in stores. 
But any who!
Let’s get to the title.


The Binge 


“Generally speaking ‘the binge’” says Dr. Laurie, “is an avoiding dynamic regarding food. And generally results from the feeling of being overwhelmed.” This person (maybe you) comes home from work, and sits down in front of the TV and eats. This is known as an ‘compulsion to eat’, or as Freud would say, ‘an oral fixation’. I know I do that! I used to sit in front of the TV and have mounds of food! And when I think of it, it was all just sugar. You are what you eat, and I was a chocolate covered potato chip. We would sit down to watch a movie and we would have chips, any sort of chocolate, chocolate covered almonds. We used to have a lot of nacho’s, and we had this big thing about GIANT hunks of bread, cheese and grapes, dips. And I used to take my dessert from dinner as a starter to eat in front of the TV. Those were good times. I remember them fondly.
Now I realized that I had a compulsion to eat because the truth is my whole family was overwhelmed, we all did it, together. In fact you could say that this compulsion was actually based in an “intergenerational joining” says Dr. Laurie. Which created a connection between all of us, sitting in front of the TV. I connected with my dad because he would be enthralled with making supper, we would pitch ideas for what we can make. I connected with my mom because we would go to the store and hunt for new snacks.  With my brother we would come home from school, make lunch together, and go downstairs and watch TV while eating.


Homeostasis: the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.


Dr. Laurie suggests that homeostasis is a huge motivator in family dynamics. All members of the family start to need the feeling that they all need to eat the same amount. Because of homeostasis eating becomes a means of attaining the self image of being like one another. The mirroring (because we have mirror neurones in our brain) the mirroring tells us that we are okay, we look like one another so therefore we are okay. And becomes that feeling of connection and belonging that we all long for. That’s why it’s really important if you are trying to lose weight and/ or change your lifestyle that the family is on board with you. This allows for the change of behaviour of ‘the binge’. 


Our binge looks different now. No longer are there any sweet treats, and if we do sit down to have a snack in front of the TV the snack is based in no carb/ low carb and it is limited, we bring out the one snack and when that is gone, we stop.