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At my recent book signing of Your Weight is Over a Personal Trainer for Emotional Eaters, I talked to many veteran dieters who
struggle year after year with weight gain and loss. They all agree diets don't work if you are emotionally attached to food. Learn how controlling your emotional eating is the answer.
The five major "triggers" for emotional eating are:
- Social activities: We eat because it is there, it's new, we are encouraged to eat by others -"you must try Aunt Rose's cake, you can diet tomorrow." Tomorrow comes and another opportunity is there to put off our weight loss. It takes one "no" to make you feel the powerful "yes."
- Emotional Tension: Instead of dealing with the feelings of sadness, anger, boredom, loneliness and anxiety, we cope by shutting off the negative feeling with a sensory taste and smell. The five senses may switch off our mind's negative content and worry, but mind now has it "down" - we eat when we feel this way. Like Pavlov's dogs we salivate when we feel bad!
- Situational Temptation: Being in a place such as the coffee shop. The pastries look good, (and I personally love something sweet with my coffee.) Even if we don't feel hungry this is a temptation, which usually ends in, "I wish I hadn't eaten that."
- Negative Thoughts: When life is tough and we don't feel good about ourselves, food is an easy, available comfort. Food for comfort seems justified, "I just don't care anymore, I will eat what I want." We wallow in all the foods we know are bad for us because we don't feel good enough to get what we want.
- Physical Discomfort: Eating in response to physical cues such as pain, headaches, low blood sugar, or lack of focus can become a habit. Aches and pains can feel better if we eat or drink something! Would our headache stop if we gave ourselves a walk, neck exercise, a few minutes with our eyes closed, or deep breathing? We owe it to ourselves to find out in order to break our habitual response.
Learn to resist old patterns which become a habit: For instance, you eat when you get bored or your normal routine stops. Learn your weak times for mindless eating and then make a conscious change for at least three months. If a bag of chips calls to you when you are watching a late night movie, either substitute a nutritional bar for chips or drink water, pause the movie, call a friend! Take charge, be aware! This is not easy, but the more you resist, the more personal power kicks in to get you what you want.
Why food makes you feel better: You learn during infancy. Some parents tend to soothe their crying child with food and drink because they want to distract and soothe any emotional discontent. In reality, the child might be just as content with attention rather than food! This beginning self-soothing with food creates a learned response which follows them into adulthood.
View a short clip below about emotional eating
TOMORROW! TOMORROW!
I will lose my weight.
I’ll clear out the junk food and start a clean slate.
I’ll stick to a diet, the new one in town
And pray I’ll fit into my new, black silk gown.
I know what I want now, it’s all about me.
Focus, attention, awareness the key.
I’ll manage my feelings that trigger my binges,
I’ll exercise daily even though my mind cringes.
I’ll be known as a person of will and good figure,
A person with purpose and plenty of vigor.
BUT, TODAY!
I feel sad, and a little bit bored.
I need something sweet which can’t be ignored.
I’ll eat all the “stuff” I can’t have tomorrow,
The cake and the ice-cream will help soothe my sorrow.
What harm will it do to have one last fling?
It’s only today I will do a bad thing.
I’m not very hungry but still crave a taste,
Anyway, I can’t let good food go to waste!
I’ll mindlessly stuff down “forbidden” so fast
Until I yell, “why did I do that”--at last!!
vdr
Let Val’s book, Your Weight is Over a Personal Trainer for Emotional Eaters help with your
Tomorrows and Todays
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