How do you cope with cravings and urges to eat?

Question

I'm recovering from an eating disorder and setting myself some goals daily which I am meeting (getting rid of calorie counting, weighing food etc)

However at night I get uncontrollable urges to overeat, especially sugar. I have 2 questions-

1) Is this purely just a craving OR is it just hunger? How can you tell the difference?

2) How to cope with the cravings/urges?

Answer 1

a good fallback that will fill you up if your cravings get the better of you are whey protein shaks. you WILL NOT gain weight from a shake a day as the excess will pass right throughyou and they fill you up for hours after and provide a good sugar rush too

Answer 2

1) That sounds like a craving.  The way to tell is if you just feel like eating something sweet, then it's most likely a craving.  If you feel that you're low on energy and you could eat anything, but sugar is just one option, it's most likely hunger.

2) The best way I have found to cope with a craving for junk food is to simply take the food and throw it out.  Honestly, it works, and you're doing yourself good by getting rid of junk food and opting for healthy foods.  If junk food is not an option it's like it was never there, so I just go for the healthy choice.  A few months back I saw some ice cream my mom bought, I really wanted it, but I just took the container and threw it out.

By the way, if you thought I meant trying to ignore food, that's not what I meant, I meant getting rid of your desire for junk food.  You should absolutely be eating healthy foods, 5-6 meals a day.

Best of luck!