Tag Archive | Emotional Stress

New Thinking for Food Addicts

Jan5

One of the best ways to get past an over-dependency on food is to start thinking about it in a new way. There is a process to achieving any goal.

First, you think it. Then you learn it. And finally, you do it.

Inner speech is very important in the “Think it” stage. What we tell ourselves inside is more than likely to occur in our outside life, since we tend to attract that which we focus on.

For someone who is trying to lose weight and fighting a food addiction at the same time, there is a war of words going on inside your head. That makes it pretty hard to get the right message to your heart.

Without that message of self-love and support, you’re pretty much doomed to failure. You may not want to hear it, but that’s the way it usually works out.

So, here’s my two cents about how you think of yourself when you have some weight to lose and you’re struggling with a food addiction or if you tend to use food as a coping mechanism when you get stressed out emotionally as I do.

I don’t want to feel good about being fat. I know all about self-esteem. I teach workshops on it. Most people look at me and have no earthly idea of how my extra 30 pounds affect my life.

What I want is to be healthy and fit, because when I am, I feel good about everything. And I don’t have to lose all the weight I need to in order to get into the size I want to feel that way.

I’ve already started feeling like it now that I’ve  resumed my daily walks. I walk at a comfortable pace, breathing in for four steps and out for two steps. Sometimes I use the treadmill–same breathing pattern though.

That easy walking has already burned off 6 of  the 10 pounds of fat  I gained over the holidays. Boy that food was good, and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sorry I ate it, but now it’s time to get back on track.

In my opinion, it’s okay to eat holiday foods that you don’t eat all year round, as long as you don’t bring them home with you. I especially love the cookies and fudge.

I eat junk food more carefully when I eat out. But it would be unwise for me to keep addictive foods in my house because when I experience panic stress, I’d devour them.

At home, I prefer to eat healthier foods. They just make me feel better than foods that make me bloated and uncomfortable.  I have to admit that  I like the lighter feeling better.

I have come to realize that I may never lose all 30 of the pounds I’d like to shed, or maybe I will. What I do know for certain is that I can keep within 20 pounds of my ideal weight while I’m moving in that direction. And for me, for now, that’s acceptable.

In my next blog, I’ll talk about the “Learn it” phase.

Panic and Food Addiction Triggers

Dec18

One common food addiction trigger is panic. Panic causes one to stop breathing in regular breaths. Regular breathing, and especially deep breathing, is calming.

That’s why people say “Calm down, take a deep breath” when you get agitated and appear panicky. Of course, no one likes to hear that command even if it does work.

Someone with a food addiction and a breathing emergency has a real challenge on their hands. I was reminded of that today when I ran out of a formula I take to help me breathe deeply. Now I know to order an extra bottle of it and make sure I always have a spare on hand.

I was shopping for non-food items in a drugstore that carries food when I fell off the wagon. I had actually run out of my elixir yesterday but had expected the new order to arrive today. It didn’t, which added to the panic.

When your body needs energy, it takes whatever it can get. In the scrambled emotional state of panic, confusion is the only winner. You go after food, water, juice, or any other substitute for air and sleep.

When you are unable to take a deep breath, you can’t yawn, so you can’t sleep. Without rest, the body loses energy and food is an alternate energy source.

It really doesn’t matter what you eat because until you can get the rest your body really needs, every other attempt to satisfy the “hunger” fails.

Some triggers are harder to deal with than others, and some you just have to let pass. These are the ones you must avoid. There is really no other way to deal with them.

Stay out of situations that you know will make you uncomfortable. I’m not saying never take a risk. Food addiction is different. You have to stay ahead of the game.

Good health is a treasure and should be regarded as such. For those struggling with an eating disorder be it emotional eating, binging or a full-blown food addiction, avoiding lose-lose situations is imperative.

There is more than a positive or negative mental attitude involved here. At some point, we all have to take charge of our health and our lives and decide how we want to live. Only then will we have the life of our dreams.

Air is like so many things we can easily take for granted. I don’t have to worry about my having a food addiction like I used to because I like who I am and I have a plan. Today, part of my plan was missing and I felt like I was back at square one.

Thankfully, the rest of the plan is in place and I’ll be back on track in a couple of days. Wake-up calls are good.

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.

You Define Your Food Addiction

Nov12

You will hear experts talk about food addiction defining it in ways that usually relate to the treatment these experts provide.

The common thread in food addiction is that it is triggered by emotional stress, usually something buried deep inside. Regardless of what the experts say, unless they themselves have struggled with food addiction, trust yourself first.

In the case of women, the compulsive eating or overeating is often associated with issues of sexuality, including abuse.

This is not the only reason for the driving force behind a food addiction. Trauma of many varieties can trigger this kind of irresistible urge to stuff down feelings.

Releasing the emotions and feelings associated with the trauma is imperative if one is to overcome the addiction and return to a healthy emotional state, not threatened by food.

When evaluating the advice of an expert, consider these three things:

  1. Does it ring true to you? In other words, does the treatment “feel” right and make sense to you?
  2. Do they listen to you without interrupting and answer your questions without discounting or invalidating them?
  3. Do you feel comfortable?

Just those three questions. If you feel comfortable with your answers, then you’ve chosen the right person to help you.

Trust is essential in any relationship, so make sure that when you define your food addiction, it matches the definition of the person or persons you have enlisted to help and support you.