What’s Eatin’ You......Can Get You Eatin' and Drinkin'

Ok... so I was sprinting down the stairs a couple of days ago.... landed crooked on my right foot and twisted the heck outta my ankle. I was out of the game for that day. Sat on the couch with endless ice packs & all I could think about was how much stuff I needed to get done, all the errands I had planned to do that day and what was gonna happen if I did not get all the stuff done and the errands finished. In a matter of about an hour, I had worked myself up into a tizzy and was having a stress and anxiety fit.

Well, like a lot of people, when this happens... I tend to turn to food to silence that little voice that kept nagging at me about what I could expect if I did not get my list of “to dos” done.. TODAY! I mean, what I ate was not unhealthy as I don’t keep “junk” in the house... but I ate too much of the good stuff. Wolfing down 3 slices of wholegrain bread slathered with natural unsalted almond butter in a matter of minutes. (and I am not a bread eater.) Then I inhaled about 2 to 2.5 cups of unsalted cashews and if that wasn’t enough.... had the hubby Bear bring home vegan fried rice from the local Chinese take out joint. (Ok, so this is not the healthiest request.. all that sodium and vegetable oil..) Those places give you enough for 5 servings...... but, I ate every last bite of it. All of this.. just trying to get rid of the stress and anxiety of not being able to get up and move about and move on with my hectic day.

Just today, I had a client tell me that she did fine for the first 3 days last week, but then Friday came and she got a phone call that really upset her and sent her into an anxiety tail spin. What did she do to calm her nerves? Food and alcohol.

Stress/emotional eating is one of the most difficult disorders to treat and to control as you never know when, where, why, or what is going to make you react. Other catalysts that can cause this type of emotional eating are lack of sleep and fatigue.

Looking and finding comfort in food is not only an emotional reaction; but also, a physiological reaction. When our bodies are stressed and anxious we can have uncontrollable cravings for sugar, sodium, fats and simple carbs, as these types of foods will increase the serotonin and dopamine levels in our brains and then what happens? We start to feel so much better....happy... and satisfied..... thus the meaning of “comfort foods.”

My advice to all of us that suffer from this issue is the next time we have this urge to “feed” our stress and anxiety... instead.... distance ourselves from that immediate environment if possible. Get out.. take a walk..... get in the car and drive away.... or go work out. If we can stay away for at least 20 minutes.... we can give ourselves the chance to work thru the issue and find a solution... WITHOUT the use of food or booze.

This sounds very simplistic, but I know had I been able to get to an aerobics class or go for a run or hop on my spinning bike instead of sitting around thinking about everything, I could have avoided my “crash and burn” feeding frenzy.

Until Next Time........

GOOD HEALTH TO ALL!!