Monday, August 23, 2010

Diet, and eating are two different things entirely

Well.. my resolve to not eat any more junk food lasted for 3 months. I fought through each day withholding myself from eating anything that wasn't considered "healthy food". I ate popcorn instead of chips, and cherries instead of chocolate. I boycotted all soda pop. Results: I maintained the same weight regardless of the effort. I became depressed, emotional, and moody, and I found out that I am an emotional eater. The more stress/negative feelings that I feel the more that I "hunger" to eat, and if you eat too many calories, it doesn't matter if it's healthy food or not, you will gain weight.

My 2 week vacation made it near impossible to find any healthy food as we traveled. I don't know why each restaurant mainly offers food that is high in fat, sugar, and salt ( even their salads are like this) I just decided to relax, enjoy my holiday, and not worry about calories until I returned home.

Yes, this choice meant that my weight went up, up, and away. But I took hold of it all, and have now lost 12 pounds. I'm working my way back down to a healthy level but to do it in a kind way to my body I have to lose the pounds gently.

In a way, I'm grateful for this experience because I'm now aware for sure that I'm an emotional eater. I've always suspected it, but never saw it as loudly as I saw during those 3 months where I avoided junk food through will power.

For the past month I have been trying to find alternatives to coping with strong negative emotions. Lately, I've been going to the garage, and breaking wood into small pieces. When we moved into our home, there was a stack of various wood in the rafters, and well.. with my husband's permission, I've pulled out that wood, and have smashed it with my feet into firewood. Some of the pieces that are more stubborn and won't break nicely face destruction by hand saw. It's working for now.. but I know that I'm going to run out of wood to break.

I'm thinking that perhaps it would be a good idea to think up alternatives. Somehow I have to change my pattern, and stop eating to cope with emotions/stress. Any suggestions/ websites with advice would be appreciated.

5 comments:

Felicia said...

I'm an emotional eater as well - and often eat out of boredom. I'm blessed with a fast metabolism (thank the Lord!!) and have always been active - both of which are good things because I am a true FOODIE and would eat myself into a coma if given the chance...

For me, hitting things helps - hence the heavy bag in my garage, LOL. Sometimes, it isn't enough and I hafta jump on my bike and put some physical distance between myself and the cause of the negativity. I don't peddle too far - just a few hard miles - but it helps clear my head and keep me from screaming until my vocal chords fade...

And I say go ahead and have that unhealthy food every now and again. Life is too short to deny yourself - which is why I keep a stash of chocolate in the house just for me, hee-hee. An occasional Chunky or Hershey bar is good for the soul, I say :-)

Mathieu said...

Running.

Jogging.

If I trust a doctor that I met at age 22, when I had my first back episode (lower back strain), I don't have a body built for running. But believe me, I've started running back in last may, and I've never felt better.

For some odd reason, whenever I am at home doing nothing, I get hungry. It's always the same. I need to busy my brain, else I gain weight.

I find that by myself, I have no problem keeping away from bad food. But my girlfriend (soon wife) has the worst eating habits. Then I eat some and always feel with a bad taste in my mouth. Feels good for 10 minutes, then, 4 hours of feeling bad. I hate that.

Tomatoes control cravings - for me - Raw fresh tomatoes do the thing. If I'm hungry, tomatoe-time! problem is it's actually more expensive than buying junk food. Can you actually believe that?

I keep thinking that the hunger is a physical expression of a need that is not met. Getting to the need could stop the hunger? It's as if a part of our subconcious is saying : " me cave-man, me need food, give food to me"

Weird...

Selby Karateka said...

Hi Mireille,
I have read your blog regularly for 5 years, we have a lot in common.
Our karate blogs are 5 years old.
We both seem to have a constant struggle / love of our martial art.
My 25th Anniversary is just round the corner.
I love my kata, was teaching Joko Sansei last night, an Asai Ryu shotokan kata with 78 moves in it.
You are an inspiration to what I would class as us normal karateka out there, Osu!
Paul

Mir said...

Hi Selby Karateka,

Thank you for your kind words.

I would LOVE to read your blog.

Would you please provide me the link to it?

Thank you.

Mir said...

Good day, Jack Kung,

I was able to visit your blog, and Wow! What a treasure trove of Book information. Thank you for providing that!!!