I am an emotional eater. For years it has been my way to cope with the crap that life throws at us all from time to time. I’ve tried to overcome it and sometimes I’ve managed to control it for long periods of time, however eventually I resort to it as an attempt to deal with whatever is going on in my life. I like to think that I am quite an intelligent person and I’m certainly quite logical so I know that this sort of mindless eating is not good and it’s not an answer. I’m not talking about cheating on my diet occasionally, it’s standing in the kitchen cooking dinner and shovelling biscuits into your mouth one after another because you feel scared, anxious or just a bit of a failure. So, as I am trying to make myself healthier again, this is an issue I need to tackle and I’ve been looking to advice and suggestions to help me combat it.
One thing that I have found is a book by Susan Albers called “50 more ways to soothe yourself without food. I haven’t been able to buy it yet as I currently have 86p in my bank account but I’ve found several articles about it that have given me ideas about ways to control my eating. Here’s my five favourite ideas from the book.
1. Speak to yourself
I am very self critical and I know this is a common trait with emotional ideas. I live in fear of failing and not measuring up. The idea is that when you feel low, you speak to yourself in glowing and positive terms. So, for me I would say something like “Erica, you are a determined and strong person and you have skills and talents so persevere and you will get there. It’s like giving yourself a verbal pay on the back so that you can break your downward mindset.
2. Ground yourself
Emotional eating is, as it says, all tied into your emotions. The idea behind grounding yourself is that it jolts you back to the physical state and again breaks the mindset. The book suggests holding an ice cube in your hands until it melts and concentrating on how it feels.
3. Get your favourite book
Always have your favourite book nearby, pick it up and read one page at random. Then read that page backwards. The concentration required to do this should turn your mind from food.
4. Plan out your emotional week
Every week you should sit down and look at what is ahead of you. Consider what may be emotional challenging, flag it up and try to be prepared for how it may make you feel and how you could cope.
5. Make a 5 x 5 list
This is a way to distract yourself and give yourself something else to focus on. The idea is that you write down five different lists with five things in each. The lists could be things you could do to relax, mantras you can say to help yourself, people you can call for a chat or things to read. Basically you make the lists of anything that you think you help you to keep control of your eating. I’m definitely going to do this and stick the list on my fridge. That way, when everything starts to get a little bit too much for me, I can pick one of my 25 things and it will help me cope until the moment passes.
I think these are quite useful ideas. I’m not saying that they will cure emotional eating but I think they may help control it. The other piece of advice I have is to take one day at a time. If you are having a rough time then be especially gentle with yourself. We will get through it!
Speak to you soon
Love Erica xxx
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