Stella Virgin
1 year ago
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Day 178 & 179 - Faltering a bit lately
I got some bad news yesterday and I spiraled out of control a bit last night. I pretty much threw caution to the wind and jumped on the snacking train. Of course I felt guilty afterward as it didn't change anything, but I guess I'm still going to have to struggle with the fact that I will tend to head to food when stress becomes too much. I suppose being aware of that fact should help me control it as best I can. I did have a decent day today. I did have a dessert tonight at dinner, but there was no snacking and the rest of my meals were good... so I call that a good day. Nice to be back on track :-)
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Sorry to hear about the bad news. Emotional eating is a struggle, and the only way to break free is to overwrite the mental associations you have with food. People look to food for solutions to problems (relief, happiness etc), when ironically, all it does is makes things worse.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about the bigger picture. When we're feeling stressed or low, we look for a way to feel better immediately. Our view of the world becomes incredibly narrow and short-sighted. We're thinking about the here and now, in that particular moment. It's a defence mechanism. When we are feeling overwhelmed, our brain starts obscuring our view of the future so that we can focus on the "now" and get through it. The trick is to try and keep focus on the bigger picture. When we are in a tiny bubble, we make decisions based on the impact they will have on the tiny bubble which may only see a few moments into the future. Example...
I feel down for whatever reason. Things are getting on top of me. My instinct is to want to feel better and stop the pain, and my flawed mental associations are telling me I could feel better right away if I ate a snack. My focus is very narrow and all I'm thinking about is stopping the emotional discomfort right now. I can't see ahead to next week's weigh in. It's all about the here and now, and I have been given an exit.
That's the trap. This snack will directly impact future events, but my short-sighted focus means that it becomes logical to eat to avoid the pain RIGHT NOW. Even though I know that I will feel guilty and that it will solve nothing, my brain will tell me it's right because it is operating on a second-to-second basis.
Try reading as much as you can about emotional eating and neural associative conditioning. The more you understand your brain, the less power it has over you and the more control you have. At some point things will "click" and you'll wonder why you ever thought differently. Believe me. Hang in there :)