Paul opens with a few quick bits –

Tonight’s show is going to talk about ‘binge eating’.

This ‘is not a crash diet’ – it’s about ‘changing the way you feel about food and yourself’.  Slow and steady.

What do I do if I fall of the wagon?  It can’t stop working, but you can stop doing it.  If you stop, you can start again.

Paul introduces us to a woman who lost 60 pounds, who used to struggle with binge eating.

So far, I’m liking this episode much more than last week.  I don’t struggle (much) with emotional eating, but I do struggle with binge eating.  In fact, I struggled with a bit of binge eating today.  I’m glad I’m watching this.

Paul states that there’s are scientific reasons for why we have cravings.  The reason that it is hard to overcome cravings is that our ‘imaginations are stronger than our wills’.  Paul says that we need to use our imaginations to change our cravings.

Paul interviews two women, one who drinks a lot of diet soda and another who starves herself until she gets home from work.  Sounds familiar.  Except, of course, I’m not a woman.  Hehehehe.

The next segment opens with a woman talking about her chocolate cravings.  Paul talks with her about how to have chocolate without obsessing about it.

Imagination technique –

Imagine a food that you hate, mix in hair from the barbershop, and then imagine putting it in your mouth.  Squeeze thumb and finger together on left hand.  This creates a negative association.  Imagine mixing in the favorite food.  This technique removes the association of chocolate with good emotions.  There’s also a technique with the right-hand to ingrain positive feelings, not associated with food.

I’ll have to rewind this segment several times.  A bit confusing, but also encouraging.

In the next segment, Paul is going to show us how to use the ‘negative association technique’.  ‘We are going to use a feeling or repulsion to knockout a feeling of compulsion.’

Think about a food you hate the taste of – mayonnaise

Imagine a plate of it – and eat an imaginary plate of it – squeezing the thumb and middle-finger of left hand together.

This creates a negative association.

Then, do this for a positive association.

When craving, press the left hand fingers together.  When feeling stress, press the right hand fingers together.

Again, I’ll need to watch this segment again, but, I did experience a sense that I could take control of my cravings.

I really enjoyed this episode, and I’ll watch it again, tomorrow morning.  Next week – exercise!