I’m not sure what percent of our population suffers from binge eating. Certainly here at Root Cause Medical Clinic, we see a wide spectrum encompassing how much, how often, and to what degree such a condition can affect someone’s life.

Personally I used to binge on chocolate, sugar, and potato chips. When I was a kid, having chocolate or desserts in the house was a disaster for me. I literally couldn’t control myself. A box of chocolate would be gone unless someone hid it from me. The condition didn’t improve when I was out on my own, quite the contrary since there was no mother there to “hide” the goodies!

I distinctly remember knowing I had a problem when I was driving home from school one night. I was tired, it was late and I was cold because it was wintertime. I had some brownies with chocolate icing at home in the fridge. But were there enough? That was the question I couldn’t quite answer. And since I wasn’t sure, I HAD to stop at a grocery store and get more. It was the same for ice cream. I couldn’t run out without feeling a little desperate about it.

If you know me these days you’d be quite shocked to learn the above. As a doctor, clinical nutritionist, and certified functional medicine practitioner, the mere thought of my eating such foods is today, ridiculous. They just never cross my lips. But why? Am I fighting a battle each day of “wanting” those foods and by sheer will, I stay away from them?

Thankfully the answer is no. I have zero interest or desire for such foods. In fact, the mere thought turns my stomach. What changed? Not me – not my brain. What I did change was my biochemistry. The foods I “had to have” when I was in my early 20s, just don’t interest me anymore. And I don’t “binge” or “crave” anything. And fortunately, such techniques didn’t just work for me; at Root Cause Medical Clinic, we see patients on a daily basis who can’t believe how their bodies just don’t crave the “bad stuff” anymore.

How do you stop binge eating? It’s not hard – let me tell you…

Before we launch into how to successfully deal with cravings and binge eating, let me enlighten you to a frightening new development in the pharmaceutical industry. A condition is known as B.E.D. – Binge Eating Disorder has been born. And with its introduction is a truly scary new drug name Vyvanse. This drug is a federally controlled substance due to the fact that it can be abused and lead to dependence. Its side effects are as follows:

• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Increased blood pressure
• New or worsening behavior
• New or worsening thoughts
• New bipolar symptoms
• New manic symptoms
• New psychotic symptoms including seeing things that aren’t there; believing things that aren’t true and hearing voices
• Sudden death

If that list doesn’t scare the “you know what out of you”, please re-read the list. Would anyone EVER take a substance that had those potential outcomes? It’s hard to believe, but desperation can make you do things that in hindsight you regret. Based on the life-threatening and mind threatening side effects of this drug, I can’t believe that anyone wouldn’t regret their decision to take it. But don’t worry, you don’t have to!

PLEASE understand that while binging is upsetting and frustrating and perhaps embarrassing – it can be handled naturally. One would never need to resort to a medication that has even one of the above side effects let alone all those listed.

How to stop binge eating naturally – it works and it’s drug-free!

1. Food sensitivities – patients who are binging almost always have a food sensitivity that they are unaware of. Different from an allergy, food sensitivities are foods that those affected by them eat often and crave to a degree. While the two most common are gluten and dairy, others exist such as corn, soy, and more. What the top two have in common is that they affect the nervous system in a specific way that creates binging tendencies.

Both gluten and dairy create morphine-like substances – gluteomorphins in the case of gluten and caseomorphins in the dairy sensitive person. Influencing the morphine receptors of the brain causes a person to really like and feel better (although it’s short-lived) when eating that particular food. As the effect wears off the body literally drives you to eat more of the food so that it can get another morphine “high”.

The commercial that spoke of B.E.D. actually pictured a pizza when discussing binging. They picked the right food – one loaded with gluten and dairy! At Root Cause Medical Clinic, we frequently see gluten, dairy, or both foods as triggers of binge eating.

Despite the fact these foods create a brain response to binge, it does not mean that you can’t get past that craving in just a few short days staying away from the food. Frequently patients lament that getting past their cravings and binges is likely impossible. But once they begin the correct program they discover that after only a few short days, they are back in control. When you do the right thing, craving, and resulting binging resolves rather easily.

2. Foods “engineered” to be addictive – unfortunately, we live in a time where food engineers are paid to make processed, pre-prepared, pre-packaged foods addictive. They add chemicals that create an addictive response in a specific part of our brain that triggers addictions. If you’ve ever seen the documentary “Supersize Me” or others that address the fast food industry, you will have seen the result of eating such foods regularly and the addiction that ensues.

Scientists have shown that such chemicals added to our food, including sugar, can be more addictive than cocaine in animals already addicted to cocaine. It’s phenomenal and scary that fast food and junk food manufacturers chemically alter their foods to ensure you will be a repeat customer.

The way we handle this with our patients at Root Cause Medical Clinic is to simply put them on a food program of only eating real food. It’s amazing how quickly patients feel a difference when they “clean up” their diet.

3. Hormonal imbalance – more commonly a problem in women than men, the female hormone progesterone is a glucose tolerance factor and it is a hormone that is frequently deficient. Having enough of the hormone will keep a woman’s blood sugar stabilized, avoiding highs, lows, and associated cravings. Progesterone, when deficient, is often associated with PMS, irritability, anxiety, heavy periods, and migraines. This is an easy hormone to normalize and I frequently find it deficient in my patients visiting Root Cause Medical Clinic who suffer from binging and craving.

4. Poor digestion and absorption – our cells are never happy when they’re not well fed. When the body’s digestive tract is not turning the food you’re eating into good fuel to feed your cells, blood sugar drops and cravings ensue. When blood sugar dips below a certain threshold the response from the body is always to send a message to your brain to get the blood sugar restored as rapidly as possible. This is why you reach for the sugar or very refined carbohydrates. The lower the blood sugar dips, the more likely you are to crave unhealthy foods that will tend to further destabilize your blood sugar. Before you know it you’re on the roller coaster of craving, binging, and then craving all over again.

When binging is a result of poor absorption or digestion of nutrients, focusing on the root cause of why it’s occurring is the solution and one we do here regularly at Root Cause Medical Clinic. Whether it’s poor food choices, food sensitivities, poor enzyme balance, or insufficient good organisms in the gut (probiotics), the solution is not difficult, it’s drug-free, and therefore has no dangerous side effects.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not only have very personal experience with this problem but after handling my own condition I have also helped hundreds of patients who thought they could never get past their cravings and binging.