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I Eat When I am Mad, When I am Sad and Seldom When I am Hungry. How Do I Stop? |
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It is not uncommon to eat to avoid feeling uncomfortable emotions. Eating provides us with the best distraction ever, next to televison. But many people overeat and don’t realize it because they are not paying attention. The first step to eating right is to keep records. Grab a note book and begin to log when you eat. Write down what you are eating as well as the emotions you are feeling (mad, sad, angry, happy, bored). Log the time you are eating and what you are doing. It is important to also track where you are eating AND how much food you are eating. I know this sounds like a lot of logging but you will not have to do it for long. Logging is annoying at first, but the pay off is peace and weight loss. In just a few days, you will see a pattern emerge. Take note of where and when you are eating the most. Address this by changing a few behavioral patterns, such as beckoning. Beckon means; to summon or signal, appear inviting. At certain times of day, food will beckon you when you are not looking. At the office, a coworker brings in donuts. You didn’t want a donut until it was in front of you. STOP eating because the food beckoned you, learn how to eat out of hunger. This week, begin to track your hunger. FEEL hunger. True hunger is a physiological sensation, a growl in the belly which is detached from your emotions. Refuse to eat under any other circumstance but hunger, it’s hard. If you feel harried, angry or stressed, do not eat. Take a few breaths, take a walk and leave the food alone. Find a distraction and distance yourself from the food. The best place to distance yourself from eating is the bathroom. Not too many people bring food into a bathroom. Take time and relax. Concentrate on what may be bothering you. Set up parameters for eating and begin to learn true hunger and eat only then. Good luck. |
