How to stop binge eating, and how iboga can help

How it works, in motion

Four stages, one meter of how good everyday life feels: the relief of a binge, the low that follows, the opening the iboga night may bring, and what matters after. Press play, or tap a stage.

How it works

From the next binge to the root of the need

Motion explainer

1. A binge brings quick relief from stress or a hard feeling.

   For a moment, everything else goes quiet.

2. Then come shame, a new diet, more restriction, then the next binge.

   The cycle feeds itself, which is why willpower alone rarely breaks it.

3. After the iboga night, many guests describe distance from the urge.

   An opening, not an ending. The work continues after.

4. Then you care for what the eating was covering.

   Often stress, grief or loneliness. Around the fire, you look at it and choose another way to meet it.

What iboga does for the body

What we have seen since 2012. We have welcomed more than 7,677 guests since 2012. Some came because food had become the way they got through the day. What they describe after the ceremony is a distance from the urge, with a clearer view of when they eat to feel better, and why.

This is our experience, not a clinical trial. Research on ibogaine covers drug addictions; no one has studied it for binge eating, so we pair the ceremony with therapy and three months of follow-up.

• What the research covers. Ibogaine has been studied for substance use, never for eating. Anything we say about food is by analogy, not evidence.
• The parallel. Emotional eating is often a way of coping. Time away from daily triggers, with space to reflect, may help some people see the pattern from outside. That is a hope, not a proven effect.
• The mechanism. Ibogaine and its long-lived metabolite noribogaine act on the serotonin transporter, on opioid and NMDA receptors, and in animal research on growth factors such as GDNF. Read How iboga works.

This is not a weight-loss program, and we make no promise about weight. You will still need to eat three times a day at home, so the meal plan, the therapist and the support all need to be in place.

What the ritual does for the soul

The Bwiti tradition of Gabon does not begin with the habit. It begins with the person. A dependence, in this reading, means that some part of the self has gone without care for a long time, and the habit has settled into the space it left.

Food has its own face in this light. It is often the first comfort we ever knew, so it is where many people turn when nothing else soothes: after a hard day, alone at night, in grief. In the night, guests describe seeing the pattern from outside: what the eating was standing in for, the old wound under it, the shame that kept it hidden in the kitchen.

The ritual gives that seeing a frame. The nganga, initiated in the Missoko lineage, opens the space and keeps it protected. At the fire talk you say your intention aloud, in front of the fire and the others. The medicine is given in steps, and each person is watched. Through the night the ngombi harp and the mongongo mouth bow guide the traveler, and the practitioner's clearings and protections help release what has been carried too long. At dawn the ceremony is closed. In the life review the next day, what came up is put into words and given its place, along with the way you want to live with food at home. Belief is not required. Telling the truth helps.

The program, step by step

Binge eating does not need a medical detox, so most guests join one of our standard psycho-spiritual programs; the psychologist helps you decide which fits. See programs and cost. If alcohol or other substances are part of the picture, the physician may recommend the detox program instead.

• Discovery call and screening. The honest picture: how often you binge, any vomiting, laxatives or diuretics, your weight history, your mood, every medicine. Bloodwork, including potassium, magnesium and phosphate.
• Preparation before travel. Regular meals, no crash diet, and any medication plan, including a GLP-1 drug, worked out with your prescriber.
• Arrival. Rest, food, vitals, the first fire talk without medicine.
• Ceremonies. At night, with the practitioner pacing the doses and the medical team present.
• Processing and integration. The life review, time with the psychologist, a plan for the evenings, the stressful days, the empty kitchen.
• Three months after. Four integration calls through the months when old habits can return. A binge is information, not failure; call.

ScreeningBloodwork, medications, eating history

before travel

Steady groundRegular meals, no crash diet, a medication plan

before the first dose

CeremoniesThe practitioner, the medical team in the palapa

the nights

Processing and integrationLife review, the psychologist, a plan for the hard evenings

days between

Three months afterThrough the months when old habits return

at home

applicationarrivaldepartureday 90

Food, eating disorders and iboga: safety

With binge eating, the risks are about your medicines, your eating history, whatever else comes with it.

• The heart. Iboga affects heart rhythm, so every guest has an ECG with a full medical screening; read how we protect your heart.
• Medications. Tell us about every medicine. Ibogaine is cleared by the liver enzyme CYP2D6, and drugs such as paroxetine, fluoxetine and bupropion block it; in one study paroxetine roughly doubled exposure to the active drug. Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) or other stimulants, SSRIs, topiramate all need review. GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide or tirzepatide can cause nausea or vomiting and slow the stomach, so the physician plans them with your prescriber. Never stop a medication on your own.
• Purging and weight history. Vomiting, laxatives or diuretics, recent rapid weight loss, a low weight: tell us, even if it was years ago. The bloodwork checks potassium, magnesium and phosphate.
• Other health conditions. Sleep apnea, diabetes or high blood pressure are part of the medical review.
• Alcohol and other drugs. Heavy drinking, benzodiazepines or stimulants change the plan. Alcohol and benzodiazepines need a medical taper or stabilization first, and iboga is never given during benzodiazepine withdrawal.

Anorexia and bulimia. These need a careful medical review before any ceremony. Purging can lower potassium and magnesium, and low weight changes how the body copes; both make iboga less safe. If you are underweight or purging, we advise you to become medically stable first, with specialized eating disorder care. Our physician then decides case by case.

Read Safety and medical protocol and Can iboga kill you?

Who it is for

Adults, 18 or over, who have tried many times to stop bingeing, who feel food has become how they cope, and who want to understand what the eating does for them, not only fight it. It is not for anyone whose medical screening cannot be cleared, anyone in benzodiazepine withdrawal, anyone in an acute suicidal crisis, which needs care at home first, or anyone sent against their will. If you live with anorexia or bulimia, the physician looks at your situation carefully, and getting stable with eating disorder care comes first. The discovery call is where this is decided, kindly and without judgment.

Why binge eating is so hard to stop

It is a cycle, not a character flaw. Dieting and strict restriction often trigger binges. A binge brings shame, shame brings a new round of restriction, and the cycle turns again. Many people also eat to calm stress or low mood, so food becomes the fastest comfort in the house.

The food itself plays a part. In a two-week inpatient study of 20 adults, people ate about 500 calories a day more on an ultra-processed diet than on an unprocessed one (Hall and colleagues, Cell Metabolism, 2019). Whether some foods are "addictive" like drugs is still debated.

Binge eating disorder and "food addiction"

Binge eating disorder is an official diagnosis: in the DSM-5 since 2013, in the WHO's ICD-11 as 6B82. It means repeated binges with a sense of lost control, marked distress, and no regular purging. In a large US survey of 36,309 adults, 0.85 percent met the criteria at some point in their life, and 0.44 percent in the past year (Udo and Grilo, 2018). An older estimate using earlier criteria was 2.8 percent; the methods differ.

"Food addiction" is not a diagnosis. It is a research idea, measured with the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which applies the criteria for substance addiction to highly processed foods. An analysis in the BMJ in 2023, drawing on 281 studies in 36 countries, put ultra-processed food addiction at about 14 percent of adults and 12 percent of children. Many eating disorder clinicians warn that the "addiction" label can push people toward cutting out foods, which often makes binges worse.

How to stop binge eating

Start by eating regularly: three meals plus snacks, at roughly the same times, so you are never starving by evening. Do not diet hard or ban foods; strict restriction is one of the most common triggers. Keep a simple note of when binges happen, what you felt just before, and what was going on. Look for a therapist trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for binge eating, which is the first-line treatment; guided self-help CBT works too. Ask your doctor whether a medicine could help. Tell one person you trust. If you slip, eat your next meal as planned instead of skipping it to make up.

What changing the pattern feels like

You cannot stop eating, so recovery is not abstinence. It is a new rhythm with food. There is no fixed timeline. What people often describe looks like this.

If shame or low mood ever turns into thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the United States or Canada, or go to an emergency room.

What works without iboga

Binge eating disorder is treatable, and the evidence is good. Therapy comes first; one medicine is approved; the details are in the questions below.

• CBT. Cognitive behavioral therapy, including guided self-help, is the first-line treatment in the American Psychiatric Association's 2023 guideline.
• Other therapies. Interpersonal therapy and dialectical behavior therapy also have supportive evidence.
• Medication. Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) was approved by the FDA in January 2015 for moderate to severe binge eating disorder in adults. It is not approved for weight loss.
• Groups. Overeaters Anonymous (oa.org) holds twelve-step meetings for compulsive eating. It is peer support, with little controlled evidence.

For free eating disorder support in the US, call the ANAD Eating Disorders Helpline at 1-888-375-7767 (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 9 pm Central) or the National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline at 1-866-662-1235, staffed by licensed therapists. In Canada, dial 211 for local services.

Questions people ask

Keep reading

• Mind and bodyGLP-1 drugs, retatrutide and ibogaOzempic, Mounjaro, online peptides: what they do to the night, and the pause.9 min read
• Mind and bodyIboga for depression and anxietyWhat the night does, what the evidence shows, and who should wait.4 min read
• The programSafety and medical protocolThe risks, the screening, what happens around your mat, and who we decline.11 min read
• The programPrograms and costWhat a retreat costs in US dollars, what is included, and how payment works.8 min read

Addiction guides

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