Back On Track Together
Emotional Eating
I got this article in an e-mail from my surgeon's support group. Think it describes things....perfectly.
De-Stress in 3 Minutes or Less
Stop Emotional Eating Before It Starts
-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert
What is the single, most common problem that most dieters face when
trying to lose weight? Will power? Nah. Temptation? Sometimes.
Emotional eating? Bingo! That's why it takes so much more than good
intentions and information about nutrition and exercise to be
successful. The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings
effectively—without turning to food and eating—is a necessary
foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle.
Fortunately, there are many proactive steps you can take to keep
functioning on all your mental cylinders during tough times. These
steps range widely from basic relaxation techniques to the
development
of a reliable support network. Other options include:
Keeping a food journal to help you identify your emotional eating
triggers
Cultivating mental and emotional well-being through practices like
meditation, mindfulness, massage, and yoga
Developing good problem solving skills
Turning to the Message Boards for help and support when you need it;
offering help to others as a way to get your mind off your own
troubles
and gain a little perspective on things
But all of these things take time, and there are many instances when
you need something you can do right now, to keep yourself grounded,
focused and able to make good decisions. After all, you don't always
have time to take a walk, relax in a hot bath or call a friend to
talk
things over. That's what we'll be talking about here—a 3-minute trick
for handling stressful situations in the moment.
Minute 1: Stay Grounded
Emotional eating happens when you lose your connection to your
grounded self.
Stress itself is not what makes you reach for something to eat.
In fact, stress is often a good thing and your grounded self knows
this! We need the physical stress of exercise to keep our bodies in
good shape just as we need the stress of intellectual and emotional
challenges to keep our minds healthy.
Nine times out of ten, what really leads to emotional eating is
getting caught in a "mind storm" of worst-case scenarios, projections,
misinterpretations, and all the emotional overreactions that come
with these thoughts. This "storm" turns a manageable challenge into
something that makes you feel helpless, overwhelmed, ashamed or
afraid—
and sends you to the kitchen to find something to stuff those extreme
feelings. When you can stay grounded in the moment of stress, you
have many more options.
Here are some simple ideas to keep you grounded when something (or
someone) pushes your buttons and your feelings start to spiral out of
control:
Take a few deep breaths. (You can also count to 10, if that helps.)
If the stressful situation involves someone else, take a timeout and
agree to continue the discussion in a few minutes.
Remind yourself where you are. Take a look around, noticing and
naming the colors and shapes in the space around you.
Notice the physical sensations you are experiencing. Whether it's a
sinking feeling, turmoil in your stomach, tension in your hands or
jaw, restricted breathing, or heat on the back of your neck, try to name
the feelings that go with the sensation. Is that sinking feeling fear, or
dread? Is the heat a symptom of anger?
The idea here is to stay in your body and in the moment—with what's
real—instead of going inside your mind where all those unreal
scenarios are just waiting to get spun out-of-control.
Minute 2: Reality Check
Once you're calm enough to start thinking productively, put all those
thoughts that are clamoring for attention inside your head through a
quick reality check. Here are several very common thought patterns
that have no place in reality. Do any of these apply to you?
All or nothing thinking
Example: You go over your calorie limit or eat something on
your "forbidden" list, and then decide to keep eating because you've
already "blown it" for today. Reality: Weight loss is not a one-day
event. If you stop overeating now, you'll gain less and have less to
relose later. That's something to feel good about!
Reading your own thoughts into someone else's words
Example: Someone made a mildly critical or unsupportive remark to
you, and you feel completely devastated. Reality: The more bothered you
are by such remarks, the more likely it is that you are being overly
critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what
others say won't matter nearly so much.
Either-Or thinking
Example: You make a mistake or have a bad day and feel like a
complete and hopeless failure. Reality: No one does well all the time.
Mistakes are a necessary and valuable opportunity to learn—if you don't waste
them by getting down on yourself.
Taking care of other people's business
Example: Something is going badly for someone you care about, and you
feel responsible, or pressured to fix it. Reality: People need to
learn from their own problems. You aren't doing anyone a favor by trying to
fix things just to make yourself feel better.
Minute 3: Putting Things in Perspective
Most common problems that you face in everyday life are much easier
to handle when you keep them in perspective and avoid making mountains
out of molehills. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to make
sure you aren't in the mountain-making business:
How big a deal is this, anyway? If I knew I was going to die in a
week, would this be something I would want to spend this minute of my
remaining time on?
Will any bad things happen if I postpone thinking about this until I
have more time to figure things out?
Do I have all the information I need to decide how to respond to
this?
Do I really know what's going on here, or am I making assumptions? Am
I worrying about things that might not even happen? What do I need to
check out before taking action?
Is there anything I can do right now that will change or help this
situation?
Am I trying to control something I can't, like what other people
think, say, or do?
Have I really thought through this problem, and broken it down into
manageable pieces I can handle one-at-a-time?
Use this approach whenever your thoughts or situations begin to feel
overwhelming, and you'll quickly find that the mountains that seem
impossible at first can quickly morph into what they really are—
manageable hills that you DO have the ability to climb. All it takes
is three little minutes of your time.
__._,_.___
De-Stress in 3 Minutes or Less
Stop Emotional Eating Before It Starts
-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert
What is the single, most common problem that most dieters face when
trying to lose weight? Will power? Nah. Temptation? Sometimes.
Emotional eating? Bingo! That's why it takes so much more than good
intentions and information about nutrition and exercise to be
successful. The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings
effectively—without turning to food and eating—is a necessary
foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle.
Fortunately, there are many proactive steps you can take to keep
functioning on all your mental cylinders during tough times. These
steps range widely from basic relaxation techniques to the
development
of a reliable support network. Other options include:
Keeping a food journal to help you identify your emotional eating
triggers
Cultivating mental and emotional well-being through practices like
meditation, mindfulness, massage, and yoga
Developing good problem solving skills
Turning to the Message Boards for help and support when you need it;
offering help to others as a way to get your mind off your own
troubles
and gain a little perspective on things
But all of these things take time, and there are many instances when
you need something you can do right now, to keep yourself grounded,
focused and able to make good decisions. After all, you don't always
have time to take a walk, relax in a hot bath or call a friend to
talk
things over. That's what we'll be talking about here—a 3-minute trick
for handling stressful situations in the moment.
Minute 1: Stay Grounded
Emotional eating happens when you lose your connection to your
grounded self.
Stress itself is not what makes you reach for something to eat.
In fact, stress is often a good thing and your grounded self knows
this! We need the physical stress of exercise to keep our bodies in
good shape just as we need the stress of intellectual and emotional
challenges to keep our minds healthy.
Nine times out of ten, what really leads to emotional eating is
getting caught in a "mind storm" of worst-case scenarios, projections,
misinterpretations, and all the emotional overreactions that come
with these thoughts. This "storm" turns a manageable challenge into
something that makes you feel helpless, overwhelmed, ashamed or
afraid—
and sends you to the kitchen to find something to stuff those extreme
feelings. When you can stay grounded in the moment of stress, you
have many more options.
Here are some simple ideas to keep you grounded when something (or
someone) pushes your buttons and your feelings start to spiral out of
control:
Take a few deep breaths. (You can also count to 10, if that helps.)
If the stressful situation involves someone else, take a timeout and
agree to continue the discussion in a few minutes.
Remind yourself where you are. Take a look around, noticing and
naming the colors and shapes in the space around you.
Notice the physical sensations you are experiencing. Whether it's a
sinking feeling, turmoil in your stomach, tension in your hands or
jaw, restricted breathing, or heat on the back of your neck, try to name
the feelings that go with the sensation. Is that sinking feeling fear, or
dread? Is the heat a symptom of anger?
The idea here is to stay in your body and in the moment—with what's
real—instead of going inside your mind where all those unreal
scenarios are just waiting to get spun out-of-control.
Minute 2: Reality Check
Once you're calm enough to start thinking productively, put all those
thoughts that are clamoring for attention inside your head through a
quick reality check. Here are several very common thought patterns
that have no place in reality. Do any of these apply to you?
All or nothing thinking
Example: You go over your calorie limit or eat something on
your "forbidden" list, and then decide to keep eating because you've
already "blown it" for today. Reality: Weight loss is not a one-day
event. If you stop overeating now, you'll gain less and have less to
relose later. That's something to feel good about!
Reading your own thoughts into someone else's words
Example: Someone made a mildly critical or unsupportive remark to
you, and you feel completely devastated. Reality: The more bothered you
are by such remarks, the more likely it is that you are being overly
critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what
others say won't matter nearly so much.
Either-Or thinking
Example: You make a mistake or have a bad day and feel like a
complete and hopeless failure. Reality: No one does well all the time.
Mistakes are a necessary and valuable opportunity to learn—if you don't waste
them by getting down on yourself.
Taking care of other people's business
Example: Something is going badly for someone you care about, and you
feel responsible, or pressured to fix it. Reality: People need to
learn from their own problems. You aren't doing anyone a favor by trying to
fix things just to make yourself feel better.
Minute 3: Putting Things in Perspective
Most common problems that you face in everyday life are much easier
to handle when you keep them in perspective and avoid making mountains
out of molehills. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to make
sure you aren't in the mountain-making business:
How big a deal is this, anyway? If I knew I was going to die in a
week, would this be something I would want to spend this minute of my
remaining time on?
Will any bad things happen if I postpone thinking about this until I
have more time to figure things out?
Do I have all the information I need to decide how to respond to
this?
Do I really know what's going on here, or am I making assumptions? Am
I worrying about things that might not even happen? What do I need to
check out before taking action?
Is there anything I can do right now that will change or help this
situation?
Am I trying to control something I can't, like what other people
think, say, or do?
Have I really thought through this problem, and broken it down into
manageable pieces I can handle one-at-a-time?
Use this approach whenever your thoughts or situations begin to feel
overwhelming, and you'll quickly find that the mountains that seem
impossible at first can quickly morph into what they really are—
manageable hills that you DO have the ability to climb. All it takes
is three little minutes of your time.
__._,_.___
Hi Barb,
Thanks for posting and sharing with us. I've seen it in other newsletters but put aside for "later." Your posting here was timely and very helpful.
Thanks for all your valuable contributions to BOTT!
Cathy
Thanks for posting and sharing with us. I've seen it in other newsletters but put aside for "later." Your posting here was timely and very helpful.
Thanks for all your valuable contributions to BOTT!
Cathy
Cathy
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