Tag Archive | Emotional Eating

Advice for Food Addicts: Spit It Out

Feb9

An elderly doctor gave me some advice years ago that I was reminded of today. He had retired from his medical practice of nearly half a century and had begun treating patients using nutritional therapies.

This was in the 70’s when nutritional medicine was a more secretive practice than it is today. On one of my evening visits to his Trenton, New Jersey office, Dr. Getlen diagnosed my hypoglycemia.

Until that time, other doctors had attributed my symptoms to a variety of things. Among their suggested diagnoses were newlywed shell shock and a possible brain tumor. I’m not kidding.

That same night I confided to Dr. Getlen that I ate uncontrollably whenever I felt nervous. We didn’t call it stress back then. We didn’t call ourselves emotional eaters or food addicts in those days either.

Whenever my blood sugar would drop, I would crave sweets. Once the addictive feelings began, I ate until the candy was gone. Food addiction creates more problems than just weight gain, and no one knows that better than me.

Today, I was watching a small child eat candy at the urging of her mother. “Try this one, Honey.” The child chewed the jellied candy vigorously and then spit it out. She did this repeatedly until the woman threatened to keep all the candy for herself. No comment on that one.

She asked the little girl why she kept spitting out the candy. The little girl replied very politely and matter-of-factly, “I already tasted it”.

Suddenly, Dr. Getlen’s words came back to me. He told me how to eat what I wanted without having to feel guilty about eating or worrying about gaining weight.

He told me that when I got the urge to overeat sweets to do it. He said to be sure to chew whatever I ate thoroughly and savor every bite.

Then, to my surprise and puzzlement, he told me not to swallow the food, but instead to spit it out. He said it was my mind that was in control and it was only interested in pleasing my taste buds.

He was right. I did it and it worked, especially with jelly beans. That little girl knew the secret and observing her, I was reminded of it.

It may sound like a terrible waste to spit out the food, and it would be rather disgusting if you did it at a restaurant.

The object of the exercise, however, is to satisfy your hunger without turning your body into a garbage dump. So, try it and see if it works for you too. But only at home.

P.S. It doesn’t work with ice cream.

5 Ways to Tell if You Have a Problem With Food Addiction

Feb2

Food addictions are more than just emotional eating or overeating. There are very specific behaviours associated with a food addiction. Here are five ways to tell if your eating pattern signals a food addiction.

  1. Your mind goes to food at the first sign of stress.
  2. You have an uncontrollable urge to eat when you feel uncomfortable, regardless of the situation.
  3. You eat forbidden foods out of sight of others, i.e. the bathroom or the car.
  4. You feel ashamed when you buy a candy bar, chips, or ice cream, often making excuses to the cashier during the purchase.
  5. You continue to eat as if you are starving, even after you feel full and continuing to eat is making you feel uncomfortable.

When you are addicted to something, you feel as though you cannot live without it, as if you will cease to exist if you cannot get what you need immediately.

Food addictions are no different from other types of addictions. First you feel out of control (stress) and then you act out of control (stuffing down your feelings with food).

Regaining control is the only way to pull out of the situation. Sometimes that happens in a matter of minutes. At other times, it may take hours or even days. When my sister died, I ate for several days non-stop.

Everyone is different but two things remain constant. Emotional trauma is always at the root of a food addiction, and stress is always the trigger.

There are many warning signs when it comes to food addictions but if you have these five, chances are you’re in deep. It may be time to ask for help.

Fight Your Food Addiction With Friendship

Jan23

I was talking with a young woman today, younger than me at least, about friendship.  Marisa told me  how she had dreamed about being a nurse, falling in love and having a family.

She laughed about how she and her two best friends had their lives all planned out as she ate a bag of Doritos and drink half of a two liter bottle of Pepsi.

“I was one hot Mama then” she said sadly. “Look at me now”. Tears filled her eyes and her voice trailed off.  Marisa supports herself and her two children by working two jobs.  She hasn’t heard from her friends in four years.

“It seems like all I do is eat. I used to talk to my friends when I was lonely, or sad, or tired. We talked all the time, and now all I do is eat. I feel so ashamed. This is my life.”

Food addiction is often the result of life circumstances we cannot control. Food is the mother of all comforts and can be quite irresistible when it is always available when you need to feel comforted and supported.

In Marisa’s case, her boyfriend left and she had to drop out of college to support her children. With no support system and too ashamed to talk to her friends after she gained the first 25 pounds, she went to work and took care of the kids.

Too tired and discouraged to think about anything but the wolves at her door, Marisa eats. She doesn’t deny it. She says it’s her only comfort now, but she does hope to go to nursing school one day.

Although she is involved in her daughters’ lives, she says she misses her friends most of all. Not necessarily the ones she palled around with in college but just friends in general, those special people around whom you can always be yourself without fear of being judged.

Marisa joined a women’s health club two weeks ago. She said she is looking for something to replace the need to eat when the shame surfaces.

We hear a lot about the necessity of support systems when dealing with emotional overeating, compulsive eating and food addiction, but the word “friendship” doesn’t always turn up in the conversation.

The impersonality of this high-tech world sometimes overshadows the need for and the value of friendship. In a perfect world, every one would have a friend.

Marisa hopes to make new friends at the health club. She wants to be an better role model for her teenage children who are already experiencing the consequences of being overweight. She wants to see her dream of being a nurse come true.

Most of all, she wants to feel like a loved, appreciated and valued human being whether she is fat or slim. In her own words, “I want to be comfortable in my own skin regardless of my size, and I want to have friends again who accept me as I am.”

Friendship trumps overeating in every category. If you can talk to a friend about your feelings instead of stuffing them down with food and hiding behind the shame, chances are you will find a way to overcome your fears and your food addictions.

It’s Not Your Fault That You’re Fat

Jan18

Removing the blame from gaining excess weight due to overeating or emotional eating binges may sound good in the short run, but what do you do when reality sets back in?

If it’s only a few pounds and you’re disciplined enough to stick to an eating plan for a couple of months, you can blame your weight gain on the holidays, or breaking up with your lover, or short-term stress.

You hit the gym a couple of times a week, get back on track and no real harm done. In a few weeks, your weight returns to normal in a seamless transition, and life goes on.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for millions of people who substitute food for affection, companionship, and love. Eating in order to avoid facing your fears is a symptom of a deeper issue.

Blame is not the concern here. Responsibility is what counts. No matter who or what got you into the mess that caused you to gain thirty pounds, or however much you gained, the only one who can change your situation is you.

If you’re ready to accept responsibility for making the changes in your life, then you should also know that your reality is the only one that matters.

It isn’t your fault because no judgment is necessary. You can assess your situation without judging yourself or blaming yourself for being weak. We are what we are, and that can change at any time.

We change when we experience something that makes us see the world and ourselves differently than we did before we had this new information. We can aid this process with affirmations that help put new ideas into our hearts.

One of the things I use and have used for more than two decades are Prosperity Cards, specifically HarMoney. Of course you can write your own affirmations too, but if you’d like a little help with them, click here.

Whatever happens, whatever you choose, responsibility grows on you. Feeling in charge of your life gives you a greater sense of freedom, which seems to become enhanced as we are willing and able to take on greater responsibility for our being.