In today’s video, we explore how Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) can transform the way you understand and respond to cravings in food addiction and binge eating recovery.

Originally developed for addictive behaviors, this evidence-based approach offers powerful tools for preventing relapse — not through force or suppression, but through awareness and intentional responding.

One of the biggest tensions in recovery is the question of acceptance vs. action.

If you use sensory strategies like breathwork, grounding, movement, or temperature shifts to regulate your nervous system, are you avoiding the craving — or practicing skillful recovery?

This video explores that question in depth.

What You’ll Learn in This Video:

• What Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention is and how it supports long-term recovery

• How mindfulness interrupts automatic, reactive binge patterns

• The difference between reacting to a craving and responding with awareness

• The role of sensory regulation in managing urges

• Why intention matters more than rigid “rules” about doing recovery the right way

• How acceptance and action can work together in a flexible, sustainable process If you’ve ever felt confused about how to handle cravings — or wondered whether you’re “failing” when you use coping tools — this conversation will help you approach urges with more clarity and self-trust. Recovery is not about perfection.

It’s about awareness, flexibility, and learning how to meet cravings with both presence and skill.

Please like, subscribe, and share this video with anyone who might benefit from it. Also, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for more insights, tools, and support on your recovery journey!

0:00 – Intro

0:27 – Years of researching cravings (and coming up short)

1:22 – Discovering Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP)

2:12 – From substance use to binge eating: Why MBRP applies

2:33 – The tone of MBRP: Present-moment awareness and direct inquiry

2:59 – The research behind MBRP and relapse prevention

3:19 – The tension between acceptance and action

3:45 – Sensory strategies: Breathwork, movement, and nervous system regulation

4:09 – The big question: Is changing your state still “acceptance”?

4:23 – Dr. Sarah Bowen on intention and awareness

4:49 – The micro-pause: Choosing response over reactivity

5:11 – Moving beyond the binary of acceptance vs fixing

5:19 – An iterative model: Regulation + mindfulness working together

5:44 – Craving in Buddhism: Waves that rise and fall

6:06 – Where I stand now: Staying in the exploration

6:25 – Invitation to free consultation & upcoming group

6:48 – Like, subscribe & newsletter

Please like, subscribe, and share this video with anyone who might benefit from it. Also, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for more insights, tools, and support on your recovery journey!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Follow Beyond Binge Eating Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/BeyondBingeEating/ Website: https://www.BeyondBingeEating.com Newsletter: https://beyondbingeeating.com/Newsletter/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grab your FREE Eat-With-Awareness Bundle to slow down, stay present, and reclaim peace with food: https://beyondbingeeating.com/opt-in/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t stop chewing even when you were already full?

In today’s video, we explore the nervous system science behind persistent chewing and why it may have far less to do with willpower than you think. Drawing from neuroanatomy and the science of sensory regulation, I explain how your jaw muscles send powerful calming signals directly to your brainstem and why your body may rely on chewing as a way to self-soothe.

Understanding this can reduce shame and open the door to new, supportive strategies that don’t revolve around more food.

What You’ll Learn in This Video:

• Why it can feel physically hard to stop chewing

• The role of the jaw muscles (masseter) in nervous system regulation

• How chewing provides direct proprioceptive input to the brainstem

• Why this behavior may be about regulation, not hunger

• Alternative ways to give your body calming sensory input If you’ve ever struggled with chewing, crunching, or snacking past fullness and wondered “Why can’t I stop?”

This video offers a compassionate, science-based explanation.

Your body isn’t broken. It’s communicating.

0:00 – Intro

0:24 – Why is it so hard to stop chewing?

0:31 – It’s not willpower: the nervous system explanation

0:37 – Jaw muscles (masseter) as powerful proprioceptors

0:45 – Direct signals to the brainstem (no spinal cord detour)

0:53 – How chewing regulates breathing, tone, and calm

1:00 – Maybe it’s not about food

1:06 – The role of proprioception in chewing

1:11 – “I’m trying to calm down”: what your body may be saying

1:14 – Finding alternative ways to regulate

1:20 – Examples: squeezing, wall push-ups, gym

1:29 – Your body isn’t broken — it’s communicating

1:36 – Viewer question: What can you do instead of chewing?

1:43 – Outro

Please like, subscribe, and share this video with anyone who might benefit from it. Also, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for more insights, tools, and support on your recovery journey!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Follow Beyond Binge Eating Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/BeyondBingeEating/ Website: https://www.BeyondBingeEating.com Newsletter: https://beyondbingeeating.com/Newsletter/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grab your FREE Eat-With-Awareness Bundle to slow down, stay present, and reclaim peace with food: https://beyondbingeeating.com/opt-in/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: The information on this channel is for educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice or therapy. The views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Kristina Dobyns or Beyond Binge Eating.

Have you ever set strong intentions to avoid a binge, only to later feel like your awareness disappeared or you went on autopilot? In today’s video, we explore dissociation and its connection to binge eating.

Dissociation can feel like being in a fog, feeling disconnected from your body, or losing awareness during urges or binge episodes. Understanding this experience can help explain why recovery can sometimes feel confusing and why willpower alone often isn’t enough.

What You’ll Learn in This Video:

• What dissociation can feel like and how it shows up during binge eating

• The research linking dissociation and eating disorders

• Why awareness and intentions can suddenly disappear during urges

• Why studying dissociation is challenging and still evolving in research

• Emerging insights on grounding strategies that may help reconnect awareness If you’ve ever felt confused about why binge episodes can feel automatic or out of your control, this video is for you.

Understanding dissociation can help reduce shame and support a more informed, compassionate recovery journey. Please like, subscribe, and share this video with anyone who might benefit from it.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for more insights, tools, and support on your recovery journey!

0:00 – Intro

0:18 – What dissociation can feel like (fog, disconnection, autopilot) 0:29 – Visual and sensory symptoms (tunnel vision, feeling unreal, spacing out)

0:48 – How dissociation impacted binge eating intentions

1:10 – Discovering dissociation through therapy and research

1:27 – The research linking dissociation and binge eating

1:47 – Competing theories: Does binge eating cause dissociation or vice versa?

2:01 – Dissociation as an episodic experience around binge episodes

2:20 – Why dissociation is difficult to study scientifically

2:40 – The relationship between mindfulness and dissociation

3:20 – New research: Dissociation as reduced sensory input to the brain

3:49 – Grounding and reconnecting to the present moment

4:00 – Pungent foods as a potential grounding strategy

4:23 – Examples of sensory grounding foods

4:35 – Important caution for binge eating recovery

4:45 – Alternative non-food sensory grounding strategies

5:53 – Please subscribe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Follow Beyond Binge Eating Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/BeyondBingeEating/ Website: https://www.BeyondBingeEating.com Newsletter: https://beyondbingeeating.com/Newsletter/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grab your FREE Eat-With-Awareness Bundle to slow down, stay present, and reclaim peace with food: https://beyondbingeeating.com/opt-in/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: The information on this channel is for educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice or therapy.