Stress eating

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Bingbi
Bingbi Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
I am generally a very fit and healthy person, but my lifelong plight is stress eating!!! When I am stressed I feel such intense, urgent impulses to eat. A lot of times when i've succumbed to these urges eating is not even pleasurable.... in fact, it's downright unpleasant. I just inhale food until I literally feel sick... not even really tasting or enjoying it. The worst part? I feel a cathartic release of stress afterwards. I also suspect that there are some unresolved issues with binge eating and eating disorders in my family... so maybe it's partly a learned behavior. I feel like i've made a lot of progress in now being able to recognize when i'm feeling stressed and those urges come on, but i'm not 100% in command of my stress and eating yet.

Can anyone relate? Anyone found strategies that work? I have often talked to people who are like 'oh you should meditate or do yoga to de-stress.' Well, that's a good suggestion, but I feel like I am lacking vital strategies for dealing with the situation in the moment. I mean, I can't just snap into downward dog or start chanting OM! at any given place an time. Seriously? How can I deal in the moment, right when i'm in the unwelcome throes of panicky impulse?

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  • rodneysmom98
    rodneysmom98 Posts: 167 Member
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    bump - I am interested in strategies too!
  • jms399
    jms399 Posts: 3 Member
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    I am dealing with the same issue. I am a teacher, and lately everything has been crazy and chaotic (not to mention all the goodies people keep bringing me). I turn to food for comfort, and I am gaining back some of the weight I had lost. I also tend to inhale the food, not even enjoying it, and then feel sick and gross afterward wishing I had some other way to cope. I am a runner, but with the cold weather, that has dwindled, so I feel even more stress because I am eating too much and not getting enough physical activity as well. Grrrr!!!! I would love some "in the heat of the moment" strategies also.
  • kgb6days
    kgb6days Posts: 880 Member
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    There have been studies to show this kind of eating has the same effect on the brain that drug use does. If that's true its no wonder you feel that cathartic release of stress after binging. I can tell you some things that have helped me, and know that I've gotten these suggestions from others:

    -Think it through to the end. Don't just blindly shove it in. Visualize how you will feel when it's over. Visualize yourself bloated, overweight and miserable compared to slim and strong.

    -Slow and easy. When you are stressed, take a slow deep breath - don't add to the stress. What is the worse thing that can happen? What is the best. What can you eliminate so that the stress is lowered.

    -Visualize. I love this one. I am a warm weather beach lover. When I'm stressed, I close my eyes and turn my face up to a light and go to the beach in my mind. I can even hear the waves and smell the tanning lotion. Believe it or not it helps me.

    -Work it out. Go exercise. Walk. Dance like a fool. The point is DO SOMETHING PHYSICAL to work it out. Not only will you have avoided a binge, but you will have worked off some calories!

    Good luck. You can do this thing.
  • firedragon064
    firedragon064 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    You need a way to release your energy ....
    Chew gum, chew chew..
    or if you want to eat, eat complex carb.. popcorn and baby carrots are my fav. Carbs does something to the brain .. that's why people will go for sweet..
    Chew, eat in mindful.

    For me, the best way is to go swimming.
    I suggest you do some kind of meditation every day. Try this for 2 weeks and you will find yourself more calm and in more control in stress time.

    Google EFT.

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