Your List of Addictive Foods Can Change

Dec13

Just because you’ve felt an addiction to a particular food doesn’t mean that it will always affect you in the same way.

In fact, foods that once comforted you in times of emotional crisis can lose their appeal and you may never crave them again.

This happened to me with frozen yogurt. When things felt bumpy, I craved something smooth. What worked best was Publix Blackjack Cherry frozen yogurt. When I traveled, I actually worried about what I would do if I had some emotional crisis when I was on the road.

Publix is a Florida company and I traveled outside the state. Can you imagine frozen yogurt being that much of a priority on a road trip? And you know what? It was never an issue, because when I was on a training assignment, I was doing something that fulfilled me.

When I got home though, it was a different story. All the paperwork and getting ready to leave town in two days–it was overwhelming.

I’d stop at Publix on my way back from the airport and pick up half a gallon of Blackjack Cherry. I’d eat the whole carton and then go to bed.

It became a ritual. That food topped my list of addictive foods for years and finally last year I lost my taste for it. I didn’t do anything. It just happened.

Some people think that once you’re addicted to a particular food, you never get over it. But you do. One day you just don’t want it anymore. You don’t really give it up. It’s more like it leaves you.

So don’t be too hard on yourself when you give in to your food addiction or go on an emotional eating binge. Adding guilt won’t make you feel any better.

Just know that everything has a life span, even food addiction. Never give up on yourself. Just keep working on letting go of things that no longer serve you.

Food Addiction and Chili Peppers

Dec11

I was meticulously washing what I had been told at the fresh market were mild peppers. I was planning to bake them in balsamic vinegar and have them for dinner. Not a particularly interesting evening, at least not at the start.

Little did I know that things were going to heat up. I thought nothing of washing the peppers  with my bare hands. After about 15 peppers I began to feel very uncomfortable. Suddenly I began craving my comfort foods.

Trying to ignore my food addiction cravings, the discomfort continued. As I prepared the rest of my meal and put the peppers in the oven, I suddenly recognized the source of my discomfort. My hands were burning.

My cravings soon took a second seat to the pain and then they disappeared completely. After an hour of running cool water over my hands I was forced to call 911.

Determined not to go to the emergency room, I opted for assistance from Poison Control and convinced the 911 operator not to send an ambulance. All this for a few peppers that were definitely not mild.

Four hours later, after following the Poison Control protocol for treating chemical burns and taking what I’m sure was too much Tylenol, I fell asleep with an ice cube in each hand.

I’ve often thought about the power of foods but not in this sense. Usually it’s their connection with some emotional dilemma that relates to a food addiction. Yet here I was at the painful mercy of two dozen chili peppers.

Looking on the bright side, most of the feeling has returned to my hands although my fingertips still have a ways to go. It was actually a frightening experience.

One thing is for sure. Chili peppers will NEVER belong in my addictive food groups.

Food Addiction and Emotions

Dec10

Emotional eating has a number of patterns. The most basic one is a reaction pattern of stuffing down feelings of temporary emotional anguish such as sadness or rejection.

Food addiction adds a wrinkle to the emotional eating pattern. Since every food addict has specific foods that are addictive and specific emotions that trigger the overeating, it is important to understand the underlying causes of the addiction.

The emotional triggers can surface at any time so until the underlying cause is identified and healed, steps must be taken to minimize the risk of overeating at the time of these emotional flareups.

One thing you can do is to make sure these foods are not readily available when the overwhelming hunger strikes. If they are, it may take days to break the overeating cycle.

Emotional eaters tend to eat until the feelings are soothed. A person with a food addiction just keeps eating, beyond discomfort and even to the point of pain. There is no emotion to soothe, just a bottomless pit filled with unidentifiable shame.

Shame is a debilitating emotion, powerfully negative and capable of sending anyone on the verge over the edge. The trigger snaps and we eat until we stop eating.

Of course, the best solution is to work with a therapist as well as participating in self-help programs that help you identify the emotional trauma that “started it all”.

The trouble with shame is that it is both the tormentor and protector. Shame and blame are dark twins who rarely travel alone. Learn how to recognize them.

While sorting it all out, try to keep the “danger foods” out of the house. Make it harder to get to them. No stashes in the pantry or the car, and no eating in the bathroom stall.

Set some ground rules, even if only for one week at a time. If you can follow them for one week, then you can set another time goal.

The important thing is to take some kind of action every day that will move you one step closer to a healthier life for yourself.

Emotional Eating When Stress is High

Dec8

There are all kinds of stress, and everyone experiences some stress every day. However, there are certain kinds of stress that can send an emotional eater or a food addict over the edge.

One of those stressors is missing meals, not skipping meals but missing meals. The body needs nourishment at certain intervals. This varies from one person to another because everyone’s body is different.

Hormone levels are different, metabolism is different, and food requirements are different. People feel hungry at different times. Men’s bodies and metabolism are different from women’s.

One thing is constant, the need to eat when your body calls for food. The perfect time to eat is when you first feel the hunger pangs.

Where emotional eating and food addiction are concerned, the importance of eating when you are hungry is critical. If you miss your chance to eat because the meeting  or phone call lasted too long, or you couldn’t get out of some stupid conversation, you’re in for trouble.

Your body will give you a 15 to 30-minute pass and when that’s gone, panic sets in. If the body engaged in self-talk perhaps it would ask, “Am I going to get anything to eat? I’m hungry. How will I survive? Did they forget about me?”

And then the talkback. “Oh, I have an idea. Let’s store some fat just in case they never feed me again. Yeah, that’s the ticket, we’ll pack it on the gut and thighs and rear”.

Then, by the time you do eat,  you feel like you’re starving and your hormones are going nuts, so you eat but the hunger isn’t satisfied, so you keep eating and overeating. Eventually, your blood sugar balances out and you don’t feel hungry any more.

Instead, you feel stuffed and bloated, and very uncomfortable. If this pattern is repeated often enough, you will lose touch with your body’s nutritional needs and eat just to be eating.

It is precisely at times like these that we eat fatty fried foods, cheeses, breads, and high-sugar desserts and snacks. The resulting discomfort is stressful, and the tendency toward emotional eating is greater.

The best remedy in this case is to eat when you’re hungry. Take some food with you so you’ll be prepared. An apple with peanut butter, a tuna fish, turkey, chicken or egg salad sandwich with some pickle and lettuce works well and tastes great.

With so many other things to stress us out, this is one thing that can make it all better. And just wait until you see how much more energy you have.