Review of Brain over Binge

In my research for this work, I stumbled upon Kathryn Hansen’s Brain over Binge in a Reddit post.

Her main thesis is that binge eating is never about some deeper, psychological reason. It’s not a coping mechanism for difficult emotions or an overwhelming life.

I’m sorry Kathryn, but you’re full of shit. There’s this little thing called Relativism… it can be summarized as “different strokes for different folks”. What’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander.

I’ve got a longer review of Brain over Binge <here> because this really was the book that turned the corner for me and there’s are a ton of problems with that book.

I know without question that when I was stressed about my Step 9, I turned to junk food to soothe my anxiety and fear about being exposed.

I know without question that when I quit using weed during the pandemic and I was living with an vegan older woman who had no emotional capacity, I turned to junk food to soothe my loneliness.

To say that emotional eating is never a thing is blatantly stupid. In her reflection, it wasn’t a thing for her and a therapeutic approach of dealing with her underlying issues in order to dislodge her bulimia was not the right approach. The binges that started her bulimia were induced by her anorexia which was induced by extreme dieting.

She lumps bulimia and binge eating disorder into the same pot, while barely spending 3 short paragraphs on the causes of BED. She admits that BED often isn’t induced by dieting, but then dismisses that fact in the rest of her book.

And yet…

There was something really resonant about the idea that all I needed to recover from binge eating was to stop binge eating.

Like duh. Why didn’t I think of that?

What’s different from the white knuckling I had done before was the way to relate to urges (i.e. cravings). Based on Jack Trimpey’s book Rational Recovery, she proposes a method of quitting binge eating by disengaging with the “Addictive Voice”.

The technique is basically Mindfulness applied to addictive cravings. This technique has been successful in treating OCD, with brain imaging scans to support the claim that it creates real neurological changes in the regions of the brain responsible for impulse control.

More to Come…

I’m still reading the book and I have tons of notes on my Kindle. I just needed this page to link to in my other post, so I’m putting down what I have so far. I’m going to feel really silly if anyone reads this before I actually finish the book!!