How a former #1 ranked tennis player stopped emotional eating
I do a lot of reading on many different topics because our health and fitness is comprised of so many different subjects.
This is why it drives me crazy when "experts" act as if we live in a vacuum. Every area of our life impacts our health and fitness. Everything impacts everything.
So when I came across an article about Monica Seles and her life after tennis I was intrigued.
As many of you might know, she was the top ranked female tennis player in the world. Sports reporters said she had the potential to be the best tennis player of all time.
And then...
A man stabbed her during a match.
And then...
Her father passed away from cancer.
She began to rely on food. She quietly became a binge eater.
In the interview, Monica said, "I just didn't want to feel! Food was there for me from 7AM to 11PM. I'd do anything to numb myself and food was so reliable."
Binge eating is emotional eating on steroids. And if we're not binge eating then we're emotionally eating from time to time. We all do.
Emotionally eating is eating to change the way we feel. Most commonly, eating when we're not physically hungry.
Maybe we don't realize how often we eat when we're not physically hungry, but once we do, it's shocking.
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Believe it or not, Mike Tyson has some great quotes.
One of my favorites, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."
And as the saying goes, if we fail to plan then we plan to fail.
But, of course, all the planning in the world doesn't help when our impulses and emotions get the best of us.
For some reason we're scared to feel. We've been conditioned from childhood to not feel.
"Stop crying," "Here's a cookie," "Stop complaining,"...and then, we'd find a way to distract ourselves by playing outside or calling a friend, or playing video games, etc.
However, as adults, it's not so easy to play outside or call a friend or play video games...
Whether it's our annoying boss at work upsetting us, our significant other, kids, our job, and on and on and on...
If we never let ourselves feel, we'll never get to the root cause of why we're emotionally eating in the first place.
So this week, let's work on F-E-E-L-I-N-G.
It sounds so corny and trite but even just acknowledging our feelings will help a lot.
For example...
Your boss is making you do something you don't want to do.
Instead of grabbing food to deal with the discomfort, why not acknowledge it? "Ugh, right now I can't stand my boss because I really don't want to do this. But I know this will pass."
Corny but helpful!
Another example...
Your kids aren't being appreciative or your significant other isnt...
Instead of eating our sorrows away, how about acknowledging it? "Ugh, my kids are being so ungrateful right now. My significant other is being so ungrateful right now. But I know this feeling will pass. And I know they aren't always like this but right now it's really bothering me."
In this hyper-connected, 24/7/365, go-go-go, never stop world we live in, many people don't ever just sit there for a few minutes and simply acknowledge how they feel.
When we do this, we won't be as "hungry". (Of course, we often mistake this "hunger" for physical hunger.)
And then maybe, just maybe, we can deal with the real issue at hand. (Of course, having a Body Tutor on your side helps as well.)
As Monica Seles said, and as we all know, "binging and overeating never feels good. It's a mask. A very, very itchy mask."
-Adam
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Are you an emotional eater? You'll find this article helpful.