What do I do when I am about to binge?

Here is the sequence, in full. It takes about six minutes and you can do it right now without downloading anything.

Put a number on it

How strong is this, zero to ten. One number. Do not think about it for long and do not try to be accurate. You are giving yourself something to compare against in six minutes, and it is the only thing you have to decide right now.
Slow your breathing for a minute

Four seconds in, six seconds out. The out-breath is longer than the in-breath on purpose. Do not force the depth. You are changing the pace, not the volume.
Give your eyes and hands three minutes of work

A puzzle. Something visual that takes real attention and has no timer on it. This is the part with the most evidence behind it, and the reason is that a task like this occupies the same mental space you would otherwise be using to picture the food.
Find where it sits in your body

Chest, throat, stomach, hands, jaw. Pick one place and stay with it for a minute or two. Notice what it is doing. It may not get smaller. That is not the point, and it is not a sign this is failing.
Put a number on it again

Compare it to the first one. If it has not moved, that is a real result and it is worth knowing. What you were doing for those six minutes was not bingeing.

Why deciding not to does not work

Because trying hard not to think about something tends to keep it in mind. That is a well-described effect, and it is why the whole sequence above points your attention somewhere rather than asking you to hold a door shut.

The useful move is not deciding harder. It is putting time between the urge and the kitchen, and filling that time with something that takes attention.

It also helps to make the question smaller. Not whether you are going to binge tonight, or whether tonight undoes the last three weeks. Just the next few minutes. That is a question you can actually answer.

Does anything actually stop a binge urge

These are the findings the sequence is built on. They are small studies with modest effects, mostly in students, and none of them was run specifically on people in treatment.

A short visual task

Thirty-one people, measured in daily life rather than a lab. Three minutes of a visual task brought craving down about 14 points on a 100-point scale, compared with a control task.

Skorka-Brown et al., 2015, Appetite. Limits: small trials, run on students, not on people in treatment.

Slow breathing

A 2026 review in Addiction pooled 20 studies. The 12 that measured craving, covering 696 people, found it fell by a small but consistent amount, and the effect held across nicotine, alcohol, opioids and stimulants.

Roxburgh et al., 2026, Addiction

Staying with the urge instead of fighting it

In 123 student smokers, brief instruction in this technique did not change how strong their urges were. They smoked less over the following week anyway. That gap is the reason step four asks you to stay with the feeling rather than get rid of it.

Bowen and Marlatt, 2009. Limits: one modest trial against a no-instruction control. The fuller answer is here.

If the phrase you would use is food noise

Some people describe this less as a single peak and more as a constant background, and a lot of them met the term while taking a GLP-1 medication. That is a different experience from the one this page is about.

There is a page for it here, including what happens when it comes back after stopping.

FAQ

Does the app know this is about food?

No. It never asks what the urge is about, and there is no field anywhere in it where you type the word. It runs the same six minutes whether you are at the fridge, holding a vape, or one tap from a bet. That is a deliberate design decision and it is the reason the app can be on a home screen without disclosing anything about you.

Is there a streak?

No. Nothing counts days and nothing resets to zero because of tonight. A counter that punishes you on the worst night of the month is not a tool, and we will not ship one.

Will it send me notifications?

No, and it never will. An app that pings you about food is an app that puts food in your head on its own schedule. Paddle Past sends nothing.

What if the number does not go down?

Then it does not go down, and that is a real outcome rather than a failure. The trial behind step four found urge intensity did not change and behaviour changed anyway. The app does not ask whether you feel better. It asks for a second number, and it does not show you your first until after you have given the second.

Where else can I get help?

This is one technique for the few minutes when an urge peaks. It is not treatment and it is not a substitute for it.

If binges are frequent, or you are restricting between them, or it is taking up more of your day than you want, that is worth taking to a clinician who treats eating disorders. Your regular doctor can usually make the referral.

If you want more than that, the SAMHSA National Helpline is free, confidential, open 24 hours, and can refer you to treatment near you: 1‑800‑662‑4357. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.

Put a number on it

Slow your breathing for a minute

Give your eyes and hands three minutes of work

Find where it sits in your body

Put a number on it again