What to do when the desire to binge comes?

This is what I used to do when I was faced with a desire to binge and emotionally eat.

Normally for me, my desire would come up after a very stressful day at work and I just felt I wanted to reward myself, I wanted to relax in front of the TV with loads of food.

My thinking was always the same:” I had a rough day, I am stressed and I need something to soothe me. I need food to give me pleasure, comfort and to release the stress”.

Food is by the way doing very little of this, but I am pretty good at convincing myself;)What I learned to do is that I first catch that initial thought.

Then comes the most important part; I take a breath and set a timer on my phone, for 10 to 20 min.I am waiting patiently while doing the deep breath work for the urge to pass because I know I am not hungry.

I know I want to eat and binge for all the reasons that have nothing to do with hunger

The idea is to give myself the space that I need to decide what is it that I really need. I never wanted to be in that impulsive, reactionary space. I wanted to live in a space where I make clear decisions even if it meant that I needed food.

Can you relate to this?