Emotional Eating.

Emotional Eating.

I am an emotional eater.  Food makes me feel good when I feel bad.  It makes me joyful when I'm happy.  I celebrate with food. 

And I have to now find a way to deal with this.

The hardest is the need to eat when I feel bad.  There's nothing like a Reece's peanut butter cup when things are awful and I feel down.  So, I have to find some other way to meet that need without resorting to food.  And that's hard.  There are very few things that can be as quick a "pick me up" as a peanut butter cup!  What could possibly substitute for that?

And I really have no answer to that.  Yet. 

I need to investigate what it really is that triggers the need to eat when I'm depressed, stressed or just plain down.  And then figure out something that I can do to appease that need when it is triggered.  Maybe a nice long bath with a nice book would be one way to handle it.  Though that takes a lot more time out of my day then popping a peanut butter cup in my mouth.

Or, maybe it's okay to go ahead and have a peanut butter cup.  Instant pleasure.  And if I only eat one, then that's not a waste of calories.  So I can allow some emotional eating, but I have to be careful.  And let's face it, it's not easy to be careful when you are an emotional/hormonal disaster.

At least I recognize the issue.  That's part of a solution all by itself.

The celebration with food is also hard.  For instance, every Saturday during football season (Go Georgia Bulldogs!)  I make "football food" for everyone.  We all look forward to it, revel in it and just really enjoy it.  Dips, chips, wings, ribs, poppers, you name it, I make it.  It's a happy family time.

This one isn't as hard as the emotional one.  I can make foods that are healthier than the glop I've made in the past.  I can make "lighter" versions of those foods, too.  And I can make less than I used to (I used to make enough for an army).

We also always have a Fiesta on the last day of school.  Another celebration with food.  I can plan better choices there as well.

Maybe that is the key.  With Celebration eating, I have control because I can plan those things (as long as I'm the host).  Planning.  I can overcome the problems by planning through them.

Emotional eating isn't really something you can plan for.  You don't know when you are going to have a bad day in advance.  Maybe diversion is the key there.  There has to be something else I can do to relieve my stress/depression/hormones or whatever it is that sets off a bad day.  Wine is nice, but there you go with the empty calories again. 

There has to be some non-food things that can make me happy.  Like, I like to fly kites.  But it's not like I can do that after a long day at work.  I like to read.  I like to blog.  Actually, that may be the thing for me.  Whenever I have a bad emotional time, I need to get on the computer, visit blogs and blog myself.  Inspiration and strength is but a few keystrokes away.  Plus the computer isn't in the kitchen, so that's a plus!

Any ideas would be welcome.  This will be something I have to contend with for the rest of my life, so it will be nice to hear what other people do to avoid emotional eating.