Alison C. Kerr > Quotes

“You will only feel deprived if you think that you’re missing out on something. You are not missing out. You are not depriving yourself. Binge eating is a false friend. It gives you nothing. You’re not broken and you do not need to binge on food to be fixed. If anything, it’s the opposite; by constantly bingeing on food you are depriving yourself from living free from the stress, self-loathing and anxiety of constantly bingeing.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“The Zen10 Technique Summary 1. When you notice you are craving a binge urge say the phrase “Zen10” to yourself. 2. Cultivate a sense of space between the craving and your need to act on that craving. Rest your mind in that space. 3. Wait 10 minutes before taking any action towards a binge. When the time is up, see if you can extend it by another 10 minutes. Try to keep going until the urge subsides. To help cultivate a space you can: - Use mental visualization to strengthen your resolve. - Dismiss any binge urges. Brush them off and let them be. - Apply the Muscle Release Technique for powerful urges. - Apply the Calm Breath for deeper relaxation. - Move on with your day and focus your attention elsewhere. Following these steps won’t magically get rid of binge urges (I wish it could) but it will ease the intensity of those binge urges and it’s a great tool to use whilst you progress through the rest of the Binge Code Program.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“Muscle Release Technique 1. Take a very deep breath in and hold it. 2. Tense every muscle in your body for 5 seconds (this means you are contracting your toes, thighs, calves, buttocks, stomach, chest, arms and hands. You can even clench your jaw if you want. The more muscles you squeeze tight, the better). 3. Release every muscle as you slowly exhale. 4. Rest for 10 seconds and then repeat 3-5 times. This should take you roughly less than 2 minutes. (If you are somewhere more public, you can just clench your hands into fists for 5-10 seconds). Try it now and notice the effects yourself. You should feel an instant wave of relaxation using this technique. This is an extremely powerful technique for calming your nervous system. By constricting your muscles, you trick your brain into thinking that you’re running away from a threat, so it turns off the fight or flight response. This helps to create a space, a moment of calm and makes rational thought possible again. Practice it a few times and have it ready to go. Whenever you feel like the binge urge is going to overwhelm you, apply the technique. Don’t debate it, don’t question it, just do it.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“Whenever you notice you’re craving a binge, in that moment, I want you to say to yourself, “Zen10!”. So that the phrase “Zen10!” reminds you that you’re going to do something different this time. This will help snap you out of autopilot.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“But even the most powerful desires are just feelings-coated information. They are simply messages, suggestions that can be followed or ignored. We can choose our reaction. For example, should you find yourself going towards the fridge for a binge, the very moment you notice your body reacting with movement… stop moving. Stand completely still. Realize that your thoughts cannot make you move. Realize your body is totally unaffected. The urge to binge is powerless unless you act on it. You may feel waves or a compulsion to binge, but they cannot make you move. You have the power. You are not your thoughts, you are not your desires. You are the strong silent one underneath it all. The zen one.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor E. Frankl”
― Alison C. Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“The binge urges do not control you. You are in control. Yes, I know in the middle of a binge urge it can feel impossible to resist. But even the most powerful desires are just feelings-coated information. They are simply messages, suggestions that can be followed or ignored. We can choose our reaction.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“Then give yourself 10 minutes before acting on your urges. By giving yourself a buffer of 10 minutes you help to create a space between your binge urges and your response. In that space you allow the binge urge to rise and fall and do whatever it wishes, but you take no action towards having a binge.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“The urge to binge is powerless unless you act on it. You may feel waves or a compulsion to binge, but they cannot make you move. You have the power. You are not your thoughts, you are not your desires. You are the strong silent one underneath it all. The zen one.”
― Alison C. Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“10 minutes is a short, manageable length of time. If you try to hold off any longer you may feel overwhelmed, deprived or unable to cope. Set your watch if you need to and simply avoid taking any action towards a binge urge until the 10 minutes have passed. Research by neuroscientists proves that even a 10-minute wait can drastically reduce the brain’s response to a craving. Binge urges are not constant. They ebb and flow in waves. By delaying 10 minutes you give yourself the opportunity to see if the urge will pass. This is especially true if the binge urge triggered your fight-or-flight response. It may take a good ten minutes (or longer) for you to start to feel normal again as your body needs time to flush out all the stress hormones that were activated.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“THE CALM BREATH TECHNIQUE If you wish to calm yourself further you can use the Calm Breath Technique. The Calm Breath 1. Inhale through your nose to the count of 4, breathe deeply into your belly and chest area and feel it expand. 2. Exhale through your nose, slowly count to 4 (or whatever rhythm is comfortable), allowing your body to relax and release tension. 3. Repeat for 2-5 minutes. Please don’t underestimate how effective this simple tool can be. One of the most basic, most effective tools soldiers have to keep their cool while under fire is controlling their breathing. Yoga masters have known about the power of the breath for thousands of years. Scientific research is showing that deep breathing is one of the most effective ways to lower everyday stress levels and improve a variety of health factors ranging from mood to metabolism. The key to the Calm Breath is that you slowly inhale into both your chest and relaxed belly (don’t suck your stomach in). You should feel your ribcage and abdomen expand as you fill the entirety of your lungs with oxygen with each breath. If you feel comfortable you can increase the count to 5, the deeper the breath the stronger the sense of relaxation.”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight

“But I really, really want to binge on food!” No, you don’t. You don’t want to binge. You don’t want what it does to your life. You don't want how it makes you feel afterwards. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life trapped in the misery of binge eating. Why else would you be reading this book?”
― Ali Kerr, The Binge Code: 7 Unconventional Keys to End Binge Eating and Lose Excess Weight