I work to stay open to new information.
By NEW information, I mean information that is new to me.
Right now I am investigating the Gnoll.org website of J. Stanton
and finding it quite interesting.

I also recently ordered from Amazon
a couple of books that I previously overlooked,

"The Gnoll Credo" by J. Stanton, and
"The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living": by Stephen Phinney.

I look forward to reading those books for my entertainment and education.

I am always experimenting with new diets and new food plans for myself,
however, I do not recommend specific diets and/or food plans for others.
We are all different, and my strong opinion is
that each of us needs to find what works for him or her individually.

DietHobby is here to share the Journey,
not to clearly set forth the path.

For those who are following my “Ask Grandma” videos
click to see my latest one: “How to Get Subscribers on YouTube”
which is located in DietHobby under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma.

                             
Recently I discovered the Paleo writings of J Stantion,
and am in the process of reading some of his articles. 

His position on snack foods is interesting, and very on point.

He says:

The Magic Of Snacks: Taste Without Nutrition

"Just as a movie set’s only constraint is to look good
for a few seconds from a limited set of camera angles,
a snack food’s only constraint is to taste good
until it slides down your throat.

And that’s what technology allows us to do:
create products (“snacks”) that tickle our taste receptors
far more than real food can ever hope to—but
that don’t come with the nutrition that selected us
to crave those tastes in the first place.

This is the reason that the concept “eat whole foods,
minimally processed” is generally sound:

if whole foods taste good to us,
it’s most likely because they contain nutrients we need,
not because they’ve been engineered to tickle our taste buds.

(Note that all modern fruits are heavily engineered products
of thousands of years of careful breeding: read Dan Koeppel’s
fascinating book “Banana” for a look at one typical example.)"

This seems to hit the nail on the head.

Busy day, not much to say,
except sometimes Life is not a Bed of Roses.
But ... I'll bet you already knew that.

In my opinion, while the action of binge eating
does cause physiological stress (body pain),
The psychological stress (mental pain) involved with binge eating
comes from the self-berating that many people abuse themselves with.

Some people think that ‘self-sabotage” and self-punishment
is the cause of binge eating.
Some blame the nagging and berating voice in their head
as the “saboteur” that causes them to binge.

However, perhaps it is the food itself; an excess love of food…
a personal desire for the taste and for the feeling of full-ness
that is sometimes the true culprit.

I've had a lifetime of binge eating.
20 years of professional Therapy didn't resolve the activity,
however, it DID get rid of the "nagging and berating voice in the head".

I’ve come to a personal conclusion that it doesn’t much matter
what each individual CAUSE of binge eating is
because most of the circumstances around me aren’t under my control.
Good things happen. Bad things happen.
Strong feelings make me want to eat. Period.

I am aware of this, and I work not to follow those desires.
Sometimes I still Binge. . in that I engage in emotional eating to excess..
However, it not a form of "self-punishment",
and I don't hate myself for it.

My bingeing behavior is always going to part of me, lurking in the background.
I have learned to Accept

*  that, to date, I have done all I can to fix the problem;
*  that I'll continue to work to resolve it as much as I can;
*  that this behavior is sometimes part of who I am; and
*  that I'm still okay even when I make that behavior choice.

Building a positive Habit takes energy.

In the beginning, habit takes mental energy,
to remember to be "good",
and follow a new type of eating behavior.

A person has a finite amount of mental energy
to spend on being virtuous.

Once we cross over the line from consciously "being good"
to just having the Habit,
we aren't using as much energy on it day to day,
and it becomes easier.

  It helps to try and move towards thinking about one's new eating behavior 
as mostly "allowing" oneself to eat the right amount of food,
instead of as denying oneself excess.
It helps when we think of ourselves as well-Treated
because we are in the process of eating correctly.

Going through most of our week
thinking of what we're doing as some sort of self-imposed suffering
for the benefit of our future self....becomes wearing.
This is especially true if our calorie deficit
is high enough to frequently cause gnawing hunger.

Thinking of what one is doing as a positive, can be in and of itself rewarding.
It is better not to classify our eating behavior as delayed gratification.
Many months can go by without one arriving at one's weight goal,
and maintenance of that weight goal seldom allows a drastic eating change.

It is best to reject surmising about WHAT extra foods you can eat at goal,
or mental bargaining about WHEN you will be able to eat differently.