I hope you had a wonderful, fun and healthy weekend! And if it wasn’t so healthy, that’s what today is for.

Question: Does confusion mess you up?

I think we can all agree that stress makes us eat. Or grief. Or celebration. But what about when we feel all wound up but we just don’t know what exactly is bothering us except that we feel a little crazy?

The laundry is piled to the ceiling, your co-worker is not being nice, your kids are being unappreciative and fresh, your boss is being a jerk, your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife is giving you the cold shoulder, your friend let you down, the computer broke again…

And you just want to escape! For many of us, when we feel these emotions, food feels like the perfect escape. It’s an easy way out.

Or is it?

The problem with emotionally eating is that when you’re done eating, the problems and feelings will still be there!

The key is to slow down and identify the real problem. It’s very tempting to resort to a ‘food coma’ or ‘food trance’ but that’s not going to make anything better in the long run.

Instead, slow down. Look. Listen and feel.

Instead of eating how about:

Thinking things through…
Talking to a friend…
Meditating…
Writing…
Waiting before acting…
Going for a walk…
Thinking of 3 things you can do to make the problem better…

The problem with resorting to food is that you’ll never understand what you’re really feeling.

Food gives us a momentary escape – instant gratification – but we must remember that although it might make things seem better in the very short term, the problem will keep coming up again and again.

It’s like the annoying neighbor who won’t stop knocking until you answer the door. Eventually, you just gotta answer the door!

Be aware of what you’re really feeling and answer the door this week!

Your to do: When you hear the ‘knock, knock’ ask, ‘Who’s there?!’ don’t just drown it out.

I hope you had a fun Memorial Day weekend! You know, it’s shocking (and saddening) how many people take for granted the freedom our country allows us. Even more so how we forget those who have passed away protecting our country.

Whether you agree with the war or not, I believe it’s important to honor and remember all of our fallen soldiers. I know my grandpa – may he rest in peace – fought in WWII and I’ll never forget the few times he spoke about the war.

I was happy to see that on 60 minutes this past Sunday, they had a segment about volunteers who go about looking for IEDs in order to protect us overseas. It was also about those who’ve lost their lives trying to protect us doing so.

When one of the men was asked if he was scared, he replied with, “Being scared lets you know you’re alive.”

Then the interviewer asked another soldier, “What does it take to do this job?” I loved his answer, “A belief that you’re making a difference.”

Let’s explore both of these statements and how they might apply to us:

Overeating isn’t about food. It’s about emotions. It’s about being addicted to the “food trance” eating gives us. Think about it – when you’re eating do you feel anything? Usually, we don’t. So we continue to eat and eat so we don’t feel anything.

But that’s not life! One can’t appreciate great feelings if they’ve never endured bad feelings. One can’t appreciate great tasting chicken, if they’ve never tasted bad chicken either!

The bad makes the good that much better because without the bad how could we know the difference?

We’re so afraid to feel. Just because you feel pain or hurt or discomfort, doesn’t mean you have to listen to it or acknowledge it.

Some potential mantras that come to mind:

“Feel the feeling and do it anyway.”

“Feel the pain and do it anyway.”

“Feel the discomfort and keep on going.”

“Just because the feeling is there it doesn’t mean you have to stop and listen to it.”

“Just because we feel something doesn’t mean we have to let it derail our plans.”

The next statement, “a belief that you’re making a difference,” is awesome! Let’s see how it might apply to our health and fitness journey.

If you don’t believe that eating right and exercising will make a difference in how you look and how you feel then it’ll be very hard to stick to this. If you don’t believe that making sacrifices and compromises throughout the day add up, then it’ll be hard to stick to this.

One of the main reasons why I’m so into ‘bodybuilding’ is because I find it to be so empowering. The fact that my food choices, and how I exercise affect how my body looks and works is so cool to me!

Newsflash: We’re all ‘bodybuilders’.

We’re all in control. But if you don’t believe that your choices affect your health, your waist line and your feelings, you won’t continually fight each and every battle to make the right choices between our short term self and our long term self.

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Over two months ago, I wrote about the Academy Award winning movie Hurt Locker. The main character diffuses IEDs as well. You can read that post here.

Happy Friday!

Most people don’t even realize they’re emotionally eating. Awareness is critical. The first step to overcoming any challenge is to acknowledge it’s there in the first place.

Emotional eating is one of the hardest things to conquer. In fact, I’d argue that if we didn’t have emotions sticking with anything would be a breeze!

(We’d also be dead and wouldn’t get to enjoy the benefits of being a human being!)

So if any of the following sound familiar to you, then you’re emotional eating:

1. My hunger comes on suddenly

Physical hunger comes on gradually. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly.

2. I crave specific foods

Cravings for specific, typically unhealthy foods, is a sign of emotional hunger. The rush we get from satisfying a craving is pleasurable, however, it’s emotional hunger.

3. My hunger feels urgent

In this case we’re willing to walk out of our way, or get in the car or even eat candy that’s not ours. Physical hunger doesn’t need to be satisfied urgently. Physical hunger is a lot more patient.

4. I have an upsetting emotion

If you take a look at the last few hours or days, I’ll bet you’ll find an upsetting event that caused a feeling that triggered the urge to eat.

5. I don’t stop eating after I feel full

Emotional hunger usually demands more and more food to feel satisfied. When we’re physically hungry, we don’t need to be stuffed.

6. It’s not located in my stomach

When we’re physically hungry, we’ll take what we can get. When we’re emotionally hungry, we crave the taste of a certain food in our mouth or we can’t stop thinking of a particular food or taste or texture.

7. I didn’t even realize how much I just ate

When we’re physically hungry our body is alerting us: feed me! So we’re alert. But when we’re emotionally hungry, we find ourselves just eating to eat.

8. I feel terrible after I eat

Food is good! Feeding your body what it needs is nothing to feel guilty about. If you feel guilty after you eat, though, it’s likely because your rational brain knows you’re eating for the wrong reasons.

9. If I can’t be perfect why bother?

Many times if we eat something we know we shouldn’t, we figure, “What the heck! I might as well just give in and eat everything?!?” But there’s no such thing as perfection!

Whoops! I even titled this ‘10 signs of Emotional Eating’. That’s okay!

Watch out for these today and this weekend! Awareness is critical.

Happy Friday!

Weekends can trigger emotional eating for 2 reasons:

Uno: If you’re a social person you may find yourself in situations where there is a lot of food and you don’t know how to control your urges.

Dos: If you wish you had social engagements and don’t, the weekends can be a time of loneliness and isolation.

No matter what category you find yourself in, pausing before you eat and asking yourself if you’re really hungry, makes a world of difference.

If you’re not hungry, what are you hungry for, and how can you take a step towards getting it?

Uno, dos, tres! Uno, dos, tres! Ask yourself what you’re really hungry for and you’ll eat…less!