How To Stop Binge Eating Sugar: The Best "Diet" To Break The Cycle

Does binge eating sugar feel like a physical and emotional trap you can’t escape from?

I know the feeling.

From May 2022 to October 2023, I was caught in a cycle of eating that led to intense guilt and shame.

Further down the line, it also led to serious physical symptoms due to dysregulated blood sugar levels.

The thing is, it actually started with good intent.

After a friend convinced me to join, I began weightlifting at a gym in May 2022 for the first time in my life.

As someone who’s always been anywhere from slim to skinny, I was intimidated by the idea of going to a gym. I envisioned being surrounded by bulging biceps and six-pac abs, and feeling rather out of place.

I soon realised gyms are full of people of all shapes and sizes, and they’re so focused on their own workouts that they don’t care about you.

Anyway, I enjoyed these gym sessions more than I thought I would. I went once a week every Friday to begin with.

I was advised to load up on calories on the day of the workout so, after I was finished, I’d go to my local grocery store and buy a bunch of:

• Chocolate

• Cookies

• Crisps (or chips, for you Americans!)

• Donuts

… among others.

After years of putting myself through paleo, keto, and carnivore diets to try to fix a health condition, it was as if the leash had come off.

I felt free!

I experienced a (short-lived) pleasure rush every Friday evening, stuffing my face with sugary snacks.

If I kept this isolated to once a week, this may not have caused much damage. Maybe I’d have gotten away with it.

However, as the weeks ticked by, Friday evenings became Friday afternoons and evenings…

Which then Friday afternoons, evenings, and all day on Saturdays…

Which then became Friday afternoons, evenings, all day on Saturdays, and most or all of Sundays.

Before I knew it, close to half of my average week was spent eating like s**t. And the worst part?

I’d (somehow) convinced myself this was okay, as I had increased my gym visits to three times a week.

Sure enough, I put on a healthy amount of weight to get to around 80kg — welcome news for a natural ectomorph like me.

But this disguised the damage underneath.

My body began to give me warning signs that this escalating binge-eating habit had gotten out of hand.

First, my sleep would be affected on the nights of the binges. My system was so flooded with sugar I’d fall asleep 2-3 hours later than normal.

Then, my poor gut spent the night trying to digest the food I’d consumed at 10 PM, 11 PM, or midnight.

I often had severe bloating that led to back pain and looking like I was pregnant if I didn’t suck my belly in.

Still, this didn’t stop me.

I found myself more exhausted on weekends. Intoxicated by the eating habit, I wrote this off as my body catching up on a busy work week.

Paradoxically, my personal bests continued to increase in the gym. My muscles were getting strong, but the rest of my body was not.

By August 2023, I started to experience blood sugar crashes after my first meal of the day.

These were mild at first. More like “I’m feeling hangry, I need to eat.”

They soon worsened, though. In September, I nearly collapsed — twice — around 1.5-2 hours after breakfast.

The symptoms included sudden weakness, feeling lightheaded, groggy, anxious, and shaky.

I vividly remember feeling so unwell I had to leave a shop and sit in the middle of a busy town centre, feeling out of control, as if I was going to pass out.

Why I Nearly Collapsed Due To Sugar Addiction

In hindsight, I can see that these near-collapses occurred when I ate a lower-carb breakfast following multiple days of binging on sugary food.

My body was confused by the rollercoaster ride of this irregular way of eating.

I got tested for diabetes, which came back clear. Still, I seemed to have developed a condition called reactive hypoglycemia, where your blood sugar levels can drop severely in the hours after a meal.

Interestingly, there are no solid statistics on the prevalence of sugar addiction and reactive hypoglycemia worldwide.

The US consumes 300% more sugar than the recommended daily average. And 14% of adults live with diabetes, which has doubled since 1990.

The number with non-diabetic hypoglycemia is a lot less, but I’d love to know how many people with a sugar addiction develop reactive hypoglycemia symptoms.

Anyway, back to the story. Just like it had in the past, a health issue (and the added guilt and shame) prompted me to take action, fast.

Desperate, I returned to the Keto diet, but lasted only 10 days. I changed my nutrition too quickly and paid the price with more headaches and even less energy.

Meanwhile, the feeling of self-hatred was growing inside of me, slightly out of conscious awareness.

Not only had my mental “weakness” brought about the sugar addiction and hypoglycemia events, I thought, but it also made me fail the Keto diet.

I was a hot mess.

And I needed help.

My First Steps To Stop Binge Eating Sugar

So, what did I do next?

I hired a health coach. This kickstarted the initial stages of my healing process.

We worked together to figure out how I could get satisfaction from sweet or salty food in a way that did less damage.

He advised me of healthier alternatives that I could find in my local area or buy online. We also discussed protection mechanisms to make it less likely I’d fall back into bad habits.

Overall, this was a useful first step. There were deeper root causes to uncover, though, and this demanded a hefty amount of inner work.

What was fuelling this pattern of extremes?

Extreme diets. Extreme relapses. Extreme sugar binges.

Extreme impulsivity. Extreme shame.

Broadly, it all relates to stress. And this is where the concept of the vicious cycle really does make sense.

Stress increases in your life. You look for a way to relieve or distract from the stress.

You find a temporary fix. This becomes a coping mechanism, adding more stress to your body and mind over the long term.

What. A. Mess.

I don’t think most people appreciate how much time and effort it takes to work yourself out of a trap like this.

It’s the opposite of a snap your fingers and you’re fixed job.

Rather, it’s as if you have to put the movie of your life on a slow rewind until you get to the scary parts where your stress story begins to form. Not for the faint of heart!

Do your research on the most common causes of binge eating and sugar addiction, and you’ll see psychological and emotional factors lead the way.

Anxiety. Depression. Body image issues. Shame.

In my case, I’d tried to fix my health issues in the past with intense diets and fasting. I once did a 10-day fast — no kidding — and it didn’t end well. That’s for another video!

I want to emphasise that all these efforts were not self-destructive in intent. I genuinely wanted to feel better and thought they could heal me. They took a lot of discipline.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of hidden self-pressure in these extremes and not enough self-soothing.

Do You Have To Hit Rock Bottom To Heal?

I don’t want to scare you, but I had to have my rock bottom moment to give me the enduring motivation to change.

For me, it was the experience of almost collapsing a couple of times. I felt so vulnerable and afraid that I’d do practically anything to avoid it happening again.

Do I think things have to go so far south before you can turn your addictionn around?

No. But I believe the sugar-binging has to reach a threshold whereby the discomfort of continuing the habit is stronger than the discomfort of stopping.

That internal dynamic is going to look a little different for everybody.

My crisis point prompted a lot of positive change over the next few months. Even so, it’s been a slow healing journey since with minor relapses that I’ve been able to catch early, thanks to a greater level of self-awareness of my triggers and more self-compassion.

The word compassion put me off for a long time. It sounded too sickly sweet — no pun intended!

Instead of bathing myself in words of self-love, I had to figure out how to stop stretching different parts of me in opposite directions with all-or-nothing behaviours.

Perhaps cutting out all sugar and junk food works for some. This was not true for me, though. It exaggerated my perfectionistic, hard-on-myself tendencies, igniting more stress.

Here is a link to a Google Sheet I created that you may find helpful to begin to tackle your own sugar addiction.

Disclaimer:

I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, or psychologist. Well, I almost was the latter, but again, that’s a story for another day!

The point is, I’m just a dude on the Internet who’s had some tough phases in life and wants to serve others going through similar challenges.

For those who don’t feel like clicking a link, here are a few of the key strategies that have helped me recover from the addiction:

No more extremes

The best “diet” for me is to allow myself a treat 2-3 times a week, spread through the week rather than on one day only.

This way, I can still enjoy a few cookies, a slice of cake, or a pizza takeout.

Knowing the next treat is never too far away settled that impulsivity to binge, removed some stress around social events, and allowed me to — on average — eat healthier over the long term.

Reframe cheat to treat

“Cheat day” has become normalised to describe eating whatever you want. The word cheat is pretty harsh language.

It sounds simple, but the mental reframe that the food is a treat you’re rewarding yourself with, rather than cheating to get it, can help alleviate some stress.

Change how I consume treat food

This has involved going out more to enjoy a treat, rather than eating sugar in my bedroom late at night.

It could be going to a cafe to buy a slice of cake. Or going to a restaurant to get a burger, instead of having it delivered.

It’s not like I don’t have any sugary food in the kitchen at home, but there’s less than before.

At first, I refused to have any at home. But this can become a coping mechanism in itself, built from a lack of self-trust.

Accept the relapses

Demanding you never binge on sugar again is a bunch of extra pressure you don’t need.

Life is messy. When you’re travelling or at social events, you’re going to give in to temptations.

This isn’t harmful, or the end of the world. It is normal. What’s important is to forgive yourself, fast, so a lapse for a day or two does not turn into weeks or months of suffering.

Emotional work is essential, eventually

Diving into the emotional triggers that cause the sugar binges can come later down the line. You may be best starting with more practical strategies.

Nonetheless, journalling about your sugar binging or working with a therapist are great options to explore.

Get to grips with what binging on sugar “protects” you from. How does it bring you an immediate sense of safety when you feel stressed, in survival mode?

Once you know this, you can consider how you may get this felt sense of safety in alternative, healthier ways.

That’s about all from me on this topic, at least for now.

Wishing you good luck,

Declan Davey