EatQOD

Before I go into this post, I *fully* recognize that the Eat QOD does not recommend this diet for those who have a history with binge eating. I understand this, as this disorder is complex and there are a myriad of causes which for even the people that have the disorder are difficult to tease out and understand. However, I'm going to post some insights into what I've been experiencing along with my struggles with binge eating, and how because of my own triggers with binge eating, how eat qod is actually helping me.

I'll describe my triggers, the previous work i've done that I think was good for me to do before the qod diet, and how I believe eat qod diet is actually helping me conquer (yes, I said "conquer!") my binge eating disorder.

First, my triggers:

• Feeling deprived over longer periods of time (okay, for me "longer periods" means a few days
• Being afraid that I would never get to eat the food again (even thinking about a longer-term diet would send me into a binge....and I hadn't even started the diet yet!)
• Binging would lead into the mere *habit* of binging, which then didn't need any triggers, but just becamse a way to feel safe and secure
• After repeated binging, I would often overeat. I would lose a connection to my body adn literally could not feel when I was full. I would have to become stuffed to feel like I had eaten enough.
• I had a constant desire to get on a diet, and then a constant fear of deprivation.
• During my binges, I would eat pastries and not good foods. The nutritional value was low, leaving my body craving more nutrients, but I would still be full
• The fear of being hungry was overwhelming when starting a diet, and I would binge.

Second, work I'd done prior to eat QOD:

• Intuitive eating: this helped me to learn techniques to listen to my body and become reacquainted with my body. I also learned to practice non black-and-white thinking from this, and how not to beat myself up so much. Seeing the positive elements of my contributions, not how I had not met an unrealistic goal became easier for me to do. This is essential when trying to change habits/lifestyles, but also essential in life.
• Read mindless eating book...fascinating, and became aware of the little things
• Jon Gabriel: learned how my body may crave things when I am nutritionally depriving it, and there are ways to also learn how to crave good foods.

How I believe QOD is helping me conquer binge eating:

• My mind does not feel deprived. With only 24 hours in between the times I can have something next, I don't have the irrational fear of "I will not be able to have this ever again!"....and then end up eating the entire box.
• My fear of hunger is lessened, as I get to become reacquanted with it just a little bit every other day. I realize it's not that bad, and I'm actually not that hungry.
• I'm not associating feeling hungry with long-term deprivation.
• On my eating days, it's so much easier for me to feel when I am "full" because it's like the nerves in my stomach are more sensitive (or something...)....I'm not sure what is going on there, but it's like I am more sensitive to the sensations of "fullness"
• Because I have every other days as a relative fasting day, I don't fall into my regular trap of gradually eating more and more (because I start to lose sensitivity again), and like the frog in the pot of boiling water, before I know it I'm eating huge portions and needing to feel stuffed to realize I'm full. I continually get reacquainted to the sensitivity of feeling full.
• Because every other day is a fasting day, I'm also not falling into the trap of the binging not being spurred on by a trigger, but just becoming habit. I don't have weeks and weeks and weeks of huge meals.
• If I have too large of an "on" day, I don't feel bad about myself because this is a journey and I know a fast day is coming up so my body can feel better. I see myself finding balance and getting better with this every day.

Again, I realized this isn't approved, but I do think that the one diet out there that seems to be open about its potential dangers is actually the one that has helped me the most with both binge eating as well as losing weight.

Very nice and heartfelt post. BTW, double ON days are the worst thing you can do. The QOD diet will absolutely not work, since during the second ON day, glycogen stores are full up and any excess food goes to fat, and then it's very hard to get it off. And 2 OFF days in a row is not that easy, (although one of the diets described in the "other diet" section did recommend a Mon-Tues OFF, Wed ON, Thurs Fri OFF, Sat-Sun ON schedule). It may be OK for maintenance, and it might work, but I would be skeptical.