IFS and Our Eating Parts: Using IFS to Get Out of the Restrict/Binge Cyle

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;" data-redactor-style-cache= "text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e44ad;"><strong>Does this ever happen to you?</strong> </span></p> <p>You try to change your eating habits in order to be "healthier."  Or to lose weight.  Or to feel more "in control" of your eating.  Whatever the reason, you start counting calories or you cut out entire food groups.  Or maybe you try to add more "good" foods into your eating pattern.  Or maybe you do all of those things, <em>and</em> you decide to hit the gym four times a week.</p> <p>And you maintain those behaviors.  For awhile anyway.  Maybe for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or even a couple of years.</p> <p>But then one day.....</p> <p>You backslide.  Maybe it starts with a "cheat meal" that turns into another "cheat meal" or an entire "cheat day."  And that turns into a week, a month, or a few years.  Or maybe one day you just say "I can't do this any more!!!"  And you eat all of the things that you've forbidden for the past however long.  Or maybe you just decide that you can "safely" add the foods back that you had cut out but somehow that turns into a giant free-for-all.</p> <p>And that giant free-for-all might last for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months.  </p> <p>So then what do you do?  You try your hardest to get back on that diet.  To count those calories, cut out those food groups, and add that kale back in.  And that might last for a bit, or even awhile.  But then it all comes crashing down again.</p> <p style="text-align: center;" data-redactor-style-cache= "text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e44ad;" data-redactor-span="true" data-redactor-style-cache= "color: rgb(88, 70, 102);"><strong>This is what we call the Restrict/Binge Cycle.</strong></span></p> <p>The Restrict/Binge Cycle is exactly what it sounds like:  a pattern of eating behavior that moves from dieting/restricting to bingeing/overeating.  Now, you don't have to be formally dieting or meet diagnostic criteria for binge eating to be enga