Vanderbilt University psychology department conducted a study on emotional eating and determined that "meals eaten in positive and negative moods were significantly larger than meals eaten in a neutral mood." Why is this? This website explains it all--read it. Now.
The last few days for me have been very emotional: I cried into my pillow, I cried in the car, I cried at work (which is very embarrassing), and I cried into the arms of my hubby. What I didn't do--which is HUGE for me--is eat. Normally I would find chocolate (ANY chocolate) and stuff myself until thusly I could eat no more. Food is everywhere--the vending machine at work, the snacks my coworkers bring in and offer to share, the piles of goodies in the pantry at home. It's so easy to wave the white flag and stuff ourselves until the only pain we feel is stomach pain.
It's important to recognize and work through our emotions instead of pushing them aside. So, what do you do instead of eating? Go on a walk. Run in the rain (Karlie :). Take a warm bath or shower. Spend time with a loved one. For me, music is very therapeutic. There is a song for every emotion and situation. There are songs that make you think in ways you hadn't thought before. There are songs that work miracles.
This is the song I've been singing in my soul for the last few days.
3 comments:
ugh, I'm guilty. I eat when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Which just makes me feel bad or worse and creates a vicious cycle of repeatedly eating out of control.
This week has been very emotional for me as well and I've been leaning heavily on the hubs and some friends. They have pulled me through and I've avoided eating myself into oblivian. I just need to figure out how to do this all the time.
Haha! My friend calls this, "having emotions for dinner"! Weight Watchers has helped me IMMENSELY with B.E.D. Now that I have to count my points I pay more attention to what I put in my mouth. And because I have been doing it for the past 4 months, I sort of know off hand how many points things have. So now even when I try to forget the point system and just let myself binge-I don't binge the way I used to because now I have a running total of points in my head. This is both a good and bad thing. I sort of miss eating chocolate and not realizing how many calories were in each mini Kit Kat:(
Thanks for posting the song. I have never heard it before and LOVE it:)
I find myself a lot more emotional, because I used to hide my emotions by eating. It did no good for me. I am so healthy mentally right now, it feels so great. Way to fight through it girl!
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