You start your day with good intentions of a perfect diet day and get way laid by a comment that a friend, spouse or relative says to you that unintentionally hurts your feelings. Getting upset by the misplaced remark, taking it personally and heading for the ring dings all happens in a matter of minutes. You do this to soothe your hurt feelings and create a programmed response through emotional eating.
Emotional eating is a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, anxiety, boredom, sadness and loneliness. Sometimes emotional eating doesn’t include stress or negative feelings at all but just the opposite. Many times we eat because we are happy and excited about something. The happy feelings can be a common trigger to celebrate with food for many people. Both positive and negative emotions can push the right buttons to make you hunger for the bag of potato chips or bar of chocolate in a nano-second.
Source: Wikipedia
Lack of Self Education
Did you know that certain foods have a seemingly addictive quality? When we eat certain foods such as chocolate, your body releases trace amounts of mood and satisfaction elevating hormones. Your body interprets this as a ‘reward’ and it may reinforce a preference for foods that are closely related with a certain feeling. Understanding this relationship can help us recognize when it is happening and have a plan in place to avoid it. Something as simple as leaving the room when we are upset or not having bad food in the office or house can be a great help. Doing something in place of eating can also re-program your response. Even how you think of eating the healthy food in place of the bad food can reprogram your response. To say ‘ I am stronger than a few words and I am not going to let it defeat me by eating unhealthy. I am going to show them by eating my best and looking my best’, is helpful. I know it sounds funny but it reinforces your desired efforts and results.
Do you ever find that you eat as a distraction from worrisome feelings or anxiety over an event like giving a presentation at work or having dinner with the in-laws? This is a common reaction and we are using comfort foods to take our mind off the occasion even if it is just for a little while. Your thoughts focus on the food at hand giving us a temporary reprieve from what’s to come. The issue then becomes the fact that we still have the event looming but we may now have the extra burden of guilt because we overindulged.
You can use this to your advantage. Knowing that a distraction can take your mind off the anxiety will enable you to substitute another simple activity to soothe you. Often people with anxiety use this type of self soothing to get through anxious moments. The best part is they can be simple things that allow you to zone out for a few minutes to let your body calm down.
The goal is to have a strategy planned for when these emotions come up unexpectedly. We dont want have to think too hard how we should effectively deal with them and having a game plan alleviates that.
Setting Up Support
Most people lack support for their weight loss goals because they don’t realize how critical it is in their success. Having someone to talk too when you are teetering on the line of ’should I order the salad or the cheese fries’ can impact your decision. Today we are fortunate to have an abundant source of support through the internet as well as our social platform. There are many websites that host communities of people who are looking to lose weight, as well as coaches that can help support your efforts with the right strategies for your individuality. Many coaches offer free sessions that can really help you get focused. I once spoke to a coach during my training for 12 minutes and she was able to impact my area of opportunity greatly [yes, even coaches have coaches, it keeps us on top of our game]. You can also turn to co workers, friends or a weight loss buddy in your neighborhood.
Keeping a journal is another way of keeping the saboteurs at bay. Journals are one of the most effective ways of keeping on track when dieting and fulfill many areas of need in the ‘dieting system.’ They are always handy, private, hold you accountable, reliable and can be your best friend in a tight spot. In addition checking in with a friend, coach or buddy at the end of your day either by email or phone can be another great asset to keep you on track. Having someone to share your triumphs with can boost your confidence and help you celebrate your successes. It keeps you accountable as well. In addition it is another perspective that can help you navigate the times when you do falter and help you learn to forgive yourself for things we tend to beat ourselves up on too often.
No Rules or Recognition
Sometimes you just need to make a nonnegotiable rule. Your rule can be nothing goes into my mouth without me thinking about why I am eating it, is it because of an emotion or hunger? ‘If I am emotionally eating I am going to eat a piece of fruit or small healthy snack or distract myself. Whatever your rule, stick with it without negotiations. Learn to recognize true hunger. Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate just a couple of hours ago and don’t have hunger pains, you’re probably not really hungry. Give the craving a few minutes to pass. The average craving lasts 5-15 minutes. You can handle that
Identify Your Triggers
It is hard to avoid something your are not consciously recognizing. If you don’t take time to identify what triggers you it is unlikely you will be able to put the breaks on it. For the next several days, write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you’re feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you may reveal negative eating patterns and triggers to avoid. Many people avoid this exercise and it is one of the most powerful tools to propel you forward.
Redirect, Redirect, Redirect
Redirection or distraction may seem like the cowards way out but it is actually the way of warriors. The power of the mind is amazing and we have just begun to explore this area of ourselves. Redirection is used for many people with anxiety disorders. I personally have seen it work on my son who was diagnosed with severe Contamination Obsessive, Compulsive disorder. Redirection was something he was unknowingly doing to get through his anxiety, which at the time was classified at a 10 on a scale of 1-10 and he was not on medication to soothe him. If he can do it at a level 10 anxiety so can we when our lives for the moment overwhelm us to the point of wanting to reach for the Dorito’s. What he would do would be to zone out for few minutes if he felt anxious or uncomfortable. Similar to how we can feel when we get upset or anxious about something and turn to food. He would day dream, do a puzzle, Lego’s, take a walk [this helped tremendously], listen to music that he liked, wrote in a fantasy journal about anything other than his anxiety or discomfort, basically do anything that took him away for the moment until he could better handle it. He would just redirect his focus. The reason I call it a way of a warrior is because of the way it enables the person to win the battle at hand and have control over it. For many people weight is a battle that needs to be won and this is a tool you can use to win it.
Look to see what other people do when they get upset rather than turn to food. Some people like to clean when they get upset [me] because you get immediate gratification from it [sounds like what you get from food when you eat it when your am upset], some just recognize the incident as a negative give themselves a time limit to be mad and then choose to release the anger [because it doesn't effect the person who made them mad and only hurts them if they hold on to it]. Have a list of quick rewards that don’t involve food handy so you don’t have to think doesn’t about what you should do you can just pick from the list. Splurge on you.
Keep it clean
Many people keep unhealthy food in their house. Often because they say it is for their kids. The funny thing about this is that when our kids were infants we would never dream of giving them unhealthy formula, but now that they are older it seems that we buy them unhealthy food all the time. Don’t use that as an excuse your kids need it less than you do because their body’s re still growing. Don’t keep unhealthy foods around. Avoid having an abundance of high-calorie comfort foods in the house. Also don’t go food shopping when you feel hungry or blue, postpone the shopping trip for a few hours so that these feelings don’t influence your decisions at the store.
Lack of a Balanced Diet
Go for the whole grains, vegetables and fruits, as well as low-fat dairy products and lean protein sources when choosing your meal. Try to eat at fairly regular times and don’t skip breakfast. Include foods from the basic groups in your meals. When you fill up on the basics, you’re more likely to feel fuller, longer. If you’re not getting enough calories to meet your energy needs, you may be more likely to give in to emotional eating. Try eating a piece of fruit high in fiber like an apple before your meals. studies have shown people eat less during their meals.
Not Snacking Healthy
Most people don’t put enough thought into their snacks. If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie food, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with fat-free dip or non buttered popcorn or test low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving. Your snack should be between 100-200 calories or not much more.
The Right Amount Of Rest & Exercise
People who are tired have repeatedly shown in study after study that they consume more calories. Try not to burn your candle at both ends. As hard as that can be some days it is very important to get enough rest. Your mood is more manageable and your body can more effectively fight stress when it’s fit and well rested. So make time for rest. Choosing the right amount of exercise is equally important. Try to work towards 30 minutes a day and then increase to 45- 60 minutes if possible down the road. Remember you can break it up throughout your day.
No Emotional Release
People do not factor in the emotional elements of their day and how it effects their decisions about food. Many times the emotion [i.e. anger] that we feel is a trigger that makes us turn to food for self soothing. We find our mind chatter telling us that, We deserve it because they did this to me, or because No one recognizes all the hard work I do. You are feeling frustrated at something or someone. We all have a right to get upset and no one should be treated badly. However, it is how we handle the anger that is important.
Learn to release the emotion, communicate your feelings so you can redirect the anger to be useful and not self sabotaging. [write in a journal or talk to a friend, wellness coach or online forum if you dont want to talk with the person who made you upset]. The important word here is learn. This change in behavior is something you need to be conscious about in order to effectively change it. Recognize the anger for what it is and how you are reacting to it. This change in behavior is something you need to be conscious about in order to effectively change it.
reinforce your success by learn to S.T.O.P [Step back, Take a deep breath, Oppose the urge to eat and Pat yourself on the back] and empower ourselves with what meets our long term needs as a whole and not feed an non serving emotion for the moment.
Mentally SLAM DUNK IT!
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