In the winter of 2015, I was struck with a brilliant idea: to masturbate any time I had a craving for junk food, like ice cream or chocolate. I kid you not. My thinking was that it could help prevent me from emotional eating, especially if I was feeling lonely, anxious, or blue.

I mean, if my cravings were coming from a part of me that wanted to feel pleasure, connection, and fulfillment, why not reach down and touch myself rather than reaching for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or devouring an entire chocolate bar? I figured some good self-lovin’ could be just as effective, if not more so, in making me feel satisfied.

But allow me to back up for a moment. This stroke of genius didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. It came through shortly after a trip to Bali that inspired an even bigger idea…

While traveling around, I’d been thinking a lot about what it means to be fully alive and how to fill up on the pleasure of life. And on the plane ride home, I suddenly started getting what felt like a creative download and the words “write me now” whispering in my head. So I obeyed and started filling the pages of my journal with an outline for a book about cultivating sexual energy, sensuality, pleasure, and self-love. And this book wanted to be called—The Multi-Orgasmic Diet.

But I almost ended up calling it “The Masturbation Diet” instead. Why? Because of that idea I had about masturbating to help me out with my sweet tooth. It also occurred to me that by masturbating before each meal, or at least once a day, I just might make healthier food choices in general and experience a greater sense of overall well-being.

I started wondering if masturbation, with or without peak orgasm or climax, could be the answer for any and all problems in life. Why not? It feels good, it’s a way to experience pleasure regardless of the other things happening around you, and it doesn’t require a partner or any money.

And so it began. I decided to commit to this new daily practice. For two weeks, I’d either start my day with getting myself off, or whenever a craving for something like ice cream arose, I’d take myself into the bedroom instead of out to the store.

Within the first couple of days, I noticed that I felt happier, more energized, and was radiating a healthy glow. But what about the impact on compulsive or emotional eating and cravings?

For years I had this habit of eating my parents’ chocolate from Trader Joe’s every time I would visit them, even though I didn’t really like it. Nevertheless, there was always this magnetic pull I’d experience when going back to my childhood home—like functioning on autopilot as I walked into the kitchen and opened their chocolate-filled cabinet.

But thanks to my Masturbation Diet experiment, guess what happened that first week? I didn’t feel the pull while visiting. I didn’t even think about that chocolate. For the first time in years, it wasn’t a struggle to avoid. I simply made it through without any urge for chocolate, because I felt such a deep sense of satisfaction and connection with myself and with this universal, sexual energy that was filling me up. I wasn’t yearning for anything unhealthy, and so without even trying, I broke the habit just like that.

It was working! Until I got to a point of “not being in the mood,” which made it clear that the masturbation diet could only be one part of my book. But two weeks was long enough to learn that masturbation can indeed be effective for intercepting cravings and preventing compulsive eating.

So although masturbation won’t always be the answer, I encourage you to run your own little experiment. Partnered or not, commit to being your own lover on a daily basis, and see how it affects your eating habits. And this isn’t even so much about climax—you don’t even need to cum for this to work.

A big part of the magic here is simply from taking time to love yourself up, get more intimate with yourself, and allowing that to help you feel deeply content and fulfilled rather than needing to fill a void with food.

Author: Rebecca Clio Gould

Image: Sleeping with Other People Trailer

Editor: Travis May