Breaking Up With Binge Eating

The First 60 Seconds: Don’t Let the Urge Become a Story (The Urge Proof Life — Episode 4)
There’s a tiny moment when an urge first appears—before the binge, before the “might as well,” before the story starts writing itself. In this episode, Georgie explains why the first danger often isn’t the urge itself, but the meaning we attach to it: I can’t handle this, I already know how this ends, I’m going to binge.
You’ll learn the “two waves” of an urge: the first wave is sensation, and the second wave is interpretation. The skill in the first 60 seconds isn’t to make the urge disappear or diagnose it perfectly, it’s to meet it with boring neutrality: “This is an urge. That’s all. It’ll be here for a while, and then it will leave.” From there, you can choose one small support, and later use the Urge Map if needed.
Try this week: Practice the boring sentence three times when an urge appears. You don’t have to stop eating, solve the urge, or do anything perfectly. Just notice what happens when you decline the story.

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Stop Arguing With Your Cravings: A Conversation with Dr. Glenn Livingston

This episode is a rare guest conversation on Breaking Up With Binge Eating. Georgie is joined by Dr. Glenn Livingston, psychologist, author, and creator of Defeat Your Cravings, for a wide-ranging conversation about binge eating, cravings, food rules, self-trust, and why insight alone often isn’t enough to change an eating pattern.
Glenn shares his own history with compulsive overeating, including how years of therapy and self-understanding helped him become kinder to himself, but did not automatically stop the binge eating. Together, Georgie and Glenn explore why emotional pain can be part of the picture without being the whole cause, how the brain can use old wounds as justification for continuing a pattern, and why clear lines or “guardrails” can sometimes reduce the mental negotiation that keeps cravings alive.
They also talk about the modern food environment, hyper-palatable foods, intermittent fasting, perfectionism, self-forgiveness, and why it is often easier to prevent cravings upstream than to fight them once they are roaring. Glenn offers practical tools for identifying the thoughts that try to talk you into eating against your own best judgment, while Georgie brings in her perspective on under-eating, over-productivity, emotional needs, and the importance of responding to both hunger and fullness cues with care.
A key theme in this conversation is that recovery does not have to be built on shame. You can aim clearly without attacking yourself when you miss. You can protect your recovery without making your life smaller. And you can become someone who takes your own needs seriously, even when that means being a little “weird” in public, packing food, skipping the dessert you don’t want, or refusing to harm yourself with food for someone else’s comfort.
Try this week: Notice one craving or urge and write down the thought that tries to justify it. Is it futility? Permission? “I deserve this”? “I’ll start tomorrow”? Then ask: what would actually support me here?
You can learn more about Dr. Glenn Livingston and access his free resources at DefeatYourCravings.com.

New to the show? Start Here: https://breakingupwithbingeeating.transistor.fm/start-here
Pick the listening path that fits what you’re dealing with right now.

New to the show? Start Here: https://breakingupwithbingeeating.transistor.fm/start-here Pick the listening path that fits what you’re dealing with right now.
Show Notes:
Have you ever thought, “I don’t even like this that much… so why do I still want more?” In this episode, Georgie explains the difference between wanting and liking—and why urges can stay loud even when pleasure is fading.
You’ll learn how wanting and liking are supported by partly different brain systems: dopamine-heavy motivation circuits help generate the “go get it” drive, while pleasure is more tied to hedonic circuits involving opioid and endocannabinoid signaling. The takeaway: drive and pleasure can decouple. That’s why food can feel magnetic even when it’s not actually delivering much satisfaction.
Georgie also walks through three common reasons wanting can run hotter than liking: cues and habit loops, scarcity, and stress or depletion. You’ll learn how to use a not worth it list, a pleasure check, and the concept of diminishing returns to interrupt the trance of “more will fix it.”
Try this week: Pick one risk food or one risk time when wanting tends to get loud. If you eat, pause partway through and ask: “Am I actually liking this, or am I chasing relief?” If liking is low, try one re-route action from your urge map: nourishment, soft landing, soothing, permission with structure, or breaking a cue chain.
Coming next: What to do in the first 60 seconds of an urge—before it escalates and before you start negotiating with yourself.

New to the show? Start Here: https://breakingupwithbingeeating.transistor.fm/start-here
Pick the listening path that fits what you’re dealing with right now.
Show Notes:
In this episode, Georgie gives you a practical “urge map” to answer the question that matters in real life: what kind of urge is this? Because the same pantry moment can come from very different mechanisms—and if you use the wrong tool, it’s easy to assume you “did it wrong” when you were simply solving the wrong problem. The core skill is matching the tool to the mechanism.
You’ll learn five common urge types and what each one actually needs: the Low-Fuel urge (under-fueling—food that counts), the Depletion urge (low capacity—less load and a soft landing), the Pain Relief urge (emotional or physical discomfort—soothing and often connection), the Scarcity/Rebellion urge (restriction and “I can’t” energy—a believable yes and permission with structure), and the Autopilot urge (cue chains—pattern interruption, not self-criticism). You’ll also get a quick five-question check-in to identify what’s driving the urge in the moment, plus concrete examples of “permission with structure” and simple ways to break an evening cue chain.
Try this week: Pick your most common urge type and run one experiment for seven days—data, not a test. (Afternoon anchor snack; a 10-minute downshift after dinner; a two-word feeling label + one moment of contact; a planned “yes” with structure; or breaking one link in your autopilot routine.)
Coming next: Why urges can feel so persuasive even when the eating isn’t that enjoyable—wanting vs liking.

New to the show? Start Here: https://breakingupwithbingeeating.transistor.fm/start-here
Pick the listening path that fits what you’re dealing with right now.
Show Notes: An Urge Is Not an Order: What Urges Are (and What They Aren’t) (The Urge Proof Life — Episode 1)
Urges can feel like an emergency—like the outcome is already decided before you even start. In this season opener, Georgie reframes urges as signals, not commands, and explains why urges get so loud when pressure rises and capacity drops. You’ll learn why the goal isn’t to eliminate urges, but to keep them from escalating.
This episode also tackles a common trap: the belief that you have to binge to make an urge go away. In reality, urges can rise, peak, and pass without a binge—and bingeing often creates more urges by reinforcing the relief loop and adding extra pressure afterward (shame, fear, compensation thoughts, and scarcity). You’ll also learn what fuels escalation in the moment—panic language, negotiating, future-tripping, shame/secrecy, and all-or-nothing thinking—and how to step out of that spiral.
You’ll get a simple four-step “first move” for any urge: label it (“signal, not order”), use neutral language (“uncomfortable, not dangerous”), take a small pause to restore choice, and ask what the urge is actually asking for (food, rest, relief, connection, or predictability).
Try this week: Catch and label three urges. Don’t make it a test of whether you eat—just reduce escalation by 10% and treat it as data, not a verdict.
Coming next: Episode 2 builds your Urge Map—how to identify what kind of urge you’re having and match the tool to the mechanism.