I hope everyone's weekend went well - mine was a mixed bag that gave me several opportunities to discover how I would handle eating when stressed. I'm officially starting my third week of the challenge. I can't believe it's almost over!
The next couple of weeks are going to be stressful in my household because my daughter graduates from high school at the end of the month. Which means get togethers with family, arguments over plans/money, so on and so forth. This type of scenario usually has me stuffing my face with all kinds of unhealthy foods and cursing myself afterwards. I noticed that things are different now. I'm changing my relationship to food - yes, it can still bring me comfort, but it's (a) not wrecking my health and (b) I'm able to recognize when I shouldn't be eating.
I don't know if any of you have such an intimate relationship between food and emotions,but I always have. So the fact that I'm even recognizing that it's a problem and am actively working to sever that relationship is nothing short of miraculous.
In her article, "Food Moods", Leanne Ely of SavingDinner.com describes emotional eating this way, "Food may play a bigger role than just making you grumpy if your hungry. Sometimes just the smell of a turkey roasting can trigger childhood memories of Thanksgiving or the smell of homemade bread might bring a picture of your grandmother to mind."That description fits me perfectly. Emotional eating also has a negative side for me. I eat when I'm lonely, sad or even angry in an attempt to literally stuff my feelings. It's an insane cycle, but I didn't know any better until I faced it head on and had to deal with my emotions rather than stuffing them. The question remains, how do you deal with your negative (or sometimes even positive) emotions when you're used to using food as a buffer?
First off, you have to recognize that you're doing it. Just like any other problem in your life, if you don't think it's a problem, you can't begin the work it takes to solve it. Keep a journal, talk to a trusted friend and get their honest feedback, maybe even talk to your doctor or a nutritionist.
Learn how to handle your negative emotions in a more positive way. Does this mean to ignore your negative feelings? Absolutely not. What I mean is, learn to express negative emotions in a more meaningful way - especially if you need to express them to someone else. Or, if you're like me, learn to be okay with having negative emotions. I wasn't allowed to have them growing up (or at least I never felt safe expressing them), so this was something else I needed to learn.
Find ways to celebrate things without involving food. This is difficult, but not impossible. It might even involve telling people no. One of the easiest ways is to do this is through gift cards or pampering. Find out what stores the people in your life like or try to find out something that they'd never buy for themselves, and get that for them. Family celebrations can be just as much fun at the nail salon as at the buffet.
Those are my thought and tips on dealing with emotional eating. Do any of you struggle with emotional eating? Care to share how you combat it?
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