Stress eating

julbrown1803

Hi everybody,
I am new to this posting bit. I had a very stressful month last month with my mom in a healthcare facility and dealing with insurance. This month I promised myself that I will do better and get back on track. I know everyone has stress in their life and everyone deals with it differently. Unfortunately my way is to turn to food. Now I need to learn how to change that!!.

rheddmobile

Just wanted to offer my sympathy - I had to deal with this with my dad a few years ago and it was rough. Life happens! Be gentle with yourself and don’t blame yourself for doing what you need to in order to get through.

The two main tactics I use to avoid stress eating are solving problems when possible so they don’t stress me (presumably you are doing the best you can as far as that goes) and seeking out other ways to comfort myself that are not food related. For example, I like doing my fingernails in pretty colors, listening to music, and feeding birds. If you can find even a few minutes to be outside somewhere in nature and just breathe, it makes a big difference. Sometimes not even that is possible and for those times you can escape to a beautiful garden in your mind! A friend of mine used to keep a notebook with photos of her garden, take it out, and pretend she was there during moments of stress.

It can also help to have variations on comfort foods which are lower calorie, for when you really just need something. For example, Greek yogurt with berries with cacao powder instead of a big double cone at Baskin Robbins - 150 calories versus 500 something. Salted sliced radishes instead of chips.

Wishing you strength!

RelCanonical

It's super tough, so it's really okay to struggle, but it's good you're recognizing it too. I can't say I'm at all perfect at it, but it does help a lot to find another coping mechanism while you work through processing the stress. For me, it has to be emotionally fulfilling. Writing helps me a lot - doesn't have to be about my life, can be anything, but it requires my full attention - not just mindless distraction, but a productive enjoyment.

Yivs_87

Until recently stress eating was my main way of eating. It's hard to start unlearning it. It's hard to start learning new ways of handling your stress.

Writing, journaling and reading have helped me a lot with de-stressing. So has working out over the past month.

missAlva89

Hugs for all of you! Things will get better!

brenn24179

yes I am a stress eater also finding ways other than food to cope, journaling has helped a lot, drinking water, talking with a friend, walking, anything healthy.