Where my binge eating journey started
Looking back at how I was as a child, it’s easy to see how I became a binge eater later in my teens; I was very insecure and had a negative self-image. I was sensitive, anxious and used food to soothe those big feelings. And I often felt a strong resentment that I couldn’t eat what I wanted, when I wanted it.
At 16 I decided that I wanted to lose weight and my game plan was to eat fewer “treats''. Although I didn’t go on any kind of “extreme” diet, that restriction was enough to bring on my first binge - two packs of Tesco Finest triple chocolate cookies eaten in a swirl of panic and desperation in a toilet cubicle.
Of course, with that binge came a feeling of shame and needing to “make up for it” and I fell deep into a binge and restrict cycle.