5 Tips for Bulimia Self Help

A big part of bulimia self help is to see that you actually already have a lot of positive habits. Our habits shape our lives and help us get through our day with greater ease.  Habits can be a good thing.

Here are five bulimia self help ideas around habits that I can think of to help you as a part of your recovery:

• Gratitude Journal – this is a journal where you write down each day 5 things (or more!) you’re grateful for in your life.  The power of this habit comes when you become present to the impact of all the little (and big) things that you do have in your life to appreciate.  What we focus on expands and this habit begins retraining your brain to focus on the good in your life.  Do this one before you go to bed each night and you’ll be amazed at how well you sleep and how light you feel the next morning.

• Structured Meal Plan – many studies have shown that eating regular meals throughout the day not only nourishes your body and balances your brain chemistry, but it can also help reduce the emotional eating that worries many bulimics.  Consider meeting with a nutritionist to develop a plan that can work for your lifestyle to be sure your plan is healthful because often we bulimics have a distorted view of what and how much food we should eat.

• Daily Affirmations – this is a wonderful process for retraining your brain and subconscious in an empowering way. Your affirmations can be something short and sweet that you memorize and repeat to your self every day or you can choose to write them down.  I suggest no more than 5 – 10 at a time.  The important thing is not to say your affirmations flat and with a sense of boredom.  They have much more power when you feel them as you say them.  Don’t rush through them; take your time.  Make them present tense and “I statements”.  Remove any negative ones like “I don’t binge” – little secret is that the universe and our subconscious don’t know the word “no” or “don’t” – they just hear “I binge”.

• Meditation – a healthy body comes from a mind and heart connected and well balanced.  We get our thoughts all mixed up and disconnect from our source and it’s no wonder our bodies become weak and our spirit broken.  Regular meditation is a wonderful practice to energize body, mind and spirit.  One note is that meditation can take many forms, so if you pick one and it doesn’t work for you at first, try something else.  I first tried chanting and “Om-ing” my way to meditation, but it didn’t work for me.  Guided meditation worked better and now I simply start my meditations with breathing and quieting my mind.  It’s an evolution to find what works for you.

• Talk therapy – what I mean by this is not necessarily finding a therapist to talk through your problems with, although that is very useful and I highly recommend trying it.  This is suggested as a habit because it’s often we bottle up or problems and feelings and they sit and fester inside us.  This habit means calling a friend when you need support, talking with the person who just angered or upset you, and speaking your feelings to people who love and support you.  Very simple medicine really. Our thoughts form feelings and change the energy balance within us – we eat our feelings you might say.  If you haven’t had a good cry in awhile – I suggest having one to let it out.  If you prefer the medicine of laughter, rent a funny movie and laugh until your sides hurt.  Get those feelings out so you don’t let them infect you.

Bulimia self help is really about finding what works best for you.  Please post any other ideas or what’s worked for you in the comments below.