Game Changing Body Based Strategies for Binge Eating Recovery with Dr. Kristina Dobyns

And so on the other end of the spectrum, what has helped? Sobriety.

Yeah.

a surprise here what a surprise I think that definitely helped because I had a problem with alcohol and a lot of drugs I wouldn't say there were so much of a problem I didn't have to like go to an inpatient facility but like there was a lot a lot of recreational use of all sorts of things I would say that there were some things that I did have a problem

like alcohol I had

a problem I would just carry around like a water bottle with me and just fill it with vodka.

And I wouldn't let anyone know that I was just, they thought I was drinking water, but it was not water.

But I just had that, that's how I felt comfortable.

You know, like it felt hard for me to feel comfortable drinking.

about it so stuff like that finally getting sober was really helpful for my recovery because prior to then it was hard to disentangle what was going on because it's like you know how many people well I don't know especially those with the binge eating past like for me I would let's say do cocaine and then the next day on the crash and that's like I'm waking up in a pile of all the wrappers of all the things and it's like okay well you can understand that biochemically that your stuff's messed up And like, you're gonna, for me, my go-to was like, this is what I know how to do as I'm gonna, you know, cope with it with binge eating.

So that was always my reality, you know, coming down from things.

I mean, I think that I'm not sure how many people have that exact experience with that drug.

But like, for example, with alcohol, I think it's a very, very common thing.

And this would always happen to me where it's like, I'm getting super drunk and then I'm eating all the things at like three in the morning and the next day when I'm hungover and it's like, It's automatically going together, given that it was already a somatic pattern in my body.

If I am not sober, I'm for sure going to be binging because it was a little hard to disentangle like, okay, well, I was just super drunk and hungover.

So it's normal to eat all these things, right? But then once I got sober, it provided me a little bit more stability.

And also what was interesting is that, you know, the binging didn't go away.

But that was information to be like, you know, it's not just me getting wasted or whatever, because even when I'm sober, this pattern still exists.

But I can tell you right now, if I was not sober now, I wouldn't have the recovery that I had.

So I would say that that's kind of like the good first step.

And I think understanding a little bit more about sort of like just the basic science about like urges, how habit loops occur.

basic understanding about neuroplasticity and things like that I think is really helpful for those of us who deal with binge eating patterns because you might think oh gosh I am having this urge like what's wrong with me or something but if you know that actually this is just part of the neural loop.

And it's totally normal and natural that because it was reinforced in the past, and especially if you're reinforcing with ultra-processed foods, then it's natural you're going to get this huge dopamine bump and your brain is going to be like, ooh, this is good.

Let me suggest this next time.

And so then the urge is going to come around again.

And just sort of like realizing, you know, an urge is not a command.