It’s so easy to slip into this friendship!
Most of the time, we don’t really intend to do emotional eating. It’s just that we’re bored or lonely or stressed or angry or upset.
We’d much rather have these emotions taken care of some other way—with arms around us, some appreciative words, even something interesting on TV.
But when we search for these solutions and come up empty, we’re stuck with figuring out how to fix our own problems.
The truth is—food works! But when it’s misused, it can also harm your weight and your health, making you resent the very solution it provides.
Eventually, food can become your best friend, the only way you know to fix your problems.
Take a look at your eating struggles in life. Do you feel out of control around food? Do you wish you had some other ways to manage your challenges?
If you’re hooked into using food to fix your emotional needs, it’s time to change the pattern and learn new ways to handle these areas of your life.
Today’s assignment (my answers are in blue)
1. Think about how you usually manage challenges or emotional needs. Do you often use food as your friend or a way to cope with life? Describe how.
Even after all these years of working on my emotional eating patterns (and writing books about it) I still have times when I totally slide back into using food as my friend.
2. Write down a list of times when food becomes your friend.
When I’m worried about my health or my business
When I get overwhelmed with tasks and responsibilities
When I travel and feel lonely or isolated
When I’m around my family and want to feel connected.
3. Choose an item from your list, and then plan how you could manage that issue without reaching for food. Record your ideas in the space below.
I recently attended an out-of-state conference, and I decided to be very intentional about how I took care of myself. I got up early so I’d have time for a healthy breakfast before the conference meetings began.
In the late afternoon on both days, I went down to the fitness center and did a strong walk on the treadmill as well as walked a lot outside.
Excerpted from Day 53 in the book 100 Days of Weight Loss