260: Overcoming Binge Eating with Amber Abila: Journey to the Confident Eater

Host Lindsey Elizabeth Cortes introduces the Female Athlete Nutrition Podcast, aiming to help female athletes overcome confusing and harmful nutrition messages, and includes sponsorships for Wave Bye menstrual cycle products and Lindsey’s REDs resources and membership.

Lindsey interviews binge eating expert Amber Abila, who shares her progression from calorie restriction and vegan dieting as a teen to bingeing, purging, and over-exercising, with therapy helping bulimia but not binge eating. Amber explains binge eating often stems from restriction and nutrient deficiency, and discusses how hyper-palatable foods and added “natural flavors” can intensify cravings, referencing concepts from The Dorito Effect and artificial sweeteners. She emphasizes shifting from weight-loss focus to feeling normal around food, treating bingeing as a changeable habit, using mindset tools like visualization (featured in her free audio “Stop a Binge Before It Starts”), and building regular meals before refining hunger/fullness cues. Amber outlines her three-month coaching and notes overeating and binge eating use similar strategies.

Amber Abila helps women stop binge eating & overeating by rewiring their brains so they can feel normal and in control around food for good.

After years of trying everything from therapy to intermittent fasting, nothing worked until she learned about the psychology of habits which led to her losing 30 lbs, eliminating food noise, and gaining her life back.

She now walks others step by step through her process in her signature Confident Eater Program as well as in her podcast, in the top 2% worldwide, called “Become a Confident Eater.”

Free gift! Get instant access to Amber’s guided audio to “Stop a Binge Before it Starts” ⁠HERE⁠!
https://www.theconfidenteater.org/urge-guest

Episode Highlights:

• 03:00 Meet Amber Obealah
• 05:24 From Dieting to Binging
• 06:54 Cookies Then Purging
• 08:19 Why Therapy Fell Short
• 10:43 Binge Eating As Habit
• 12:17 Confidence Over Control
• 16:20 Restriction To Binge Stats
• 18:55 Rock Bottom Breakthrough
• 20:31 Letting Go Of Weight Loss
• 21:50 Why Binge Eating Starts
• 27:51 Flavorings And Cravings
• 29:05 Flavor Drives Cravings
• 29:48 Orange Prediction Error
• 30:40 Restriction And Nutrient Gaps
• 31:29 Dorito Effect Explained
• 32:55 Back To Real Food
• 33:46 Pregnancy Cravings Decoded
• 36:43 Diet Foods And Sweeteners
• 39:21 Relearning Fullness
• 42:45 Trust Timeline For Change
• 44:24 Mindset Mantras Visualization
• 47:35 Coaching Process Overview
• 49:34 Overeating Versus Bingeing
• 51:36 Final Wrap And Resources

Resources and Links:

• The Confident Eater Podcast with Amber Abila
• Follow The Confident Eater on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconfidenteater_/
• Follow Amber Abila on Youtube
• Follow Amber Abila on Facebook
• Amber Abila's Free Support Group
• For more information about the show, head to work with Lindsey on improving your nutrition, head to: http://www.lindseycortes.com/
• Join REDS Recovery Membership: http://www.lindseycortes.com/reds
• WaveBye Supplements – Menstrual cycle support code LindseyCortes for 15% off: http://wavebye.co
• Previnex Supplements – Joint Health Plus, Muscle Health Plus, plant-based protein, probiotics, and more; code CORTES15 for 15% off: previnex.com
• Female Athlete Nutrition Podcast Archive & Search Tool – Search by sport, condition, or topic: lindseycortes.com/podcast
• Female Athlete Nutrition Community – YouTube, Instagram @‌femaleathletenutrition, and private Facebook group

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See