How do I stop sweet cravings and stress eating

It's a habit, and habits aren't impossible to stop: we start them and let them form, and we can deliberately and mindfully change them, too.

Changing habits requies wanting to do so, which you seem to have checked off already. It requires knowing what's going on that *assists the habit* to remain a habit, and see if you have any "helpers" (values, strengths, skills, other habits, etc) that will assist you in changing behavior.

Example: A patient told me about not being able to stop getting the ice cream out of the fridge each and every day on coming home from work. Usually the ice cream would be gone in 2 days. She had gained weight and had cravings she felt helpless about. Her cholesterol was also up since she started the job.

To find out what was triggering - and feeding - the habit, she did logs each day for 2 weeks, working backwards:

We found some hooks that "hooked" her in to getting and eating the ice cream. Looking *backwards* in time:

Last thing before eating ice cream: When she got home she'd park by the side door, go into the laundry room that had a view of the kitchen and refrigerator, and she'd get the ice cream.

Prior to that: Driving home By the time she got almost home she was really hungry, almost sick, and started stopping to buy 2 quarts of ice cream at a store with her favorite brand, that was on her route home. If she had the ice cream at home already, she'd see the freezer when she walked in that door, and start salivating at the sight of the freezer.

Prior to that: At work: She had an early lunch (10:40am) scheduled every day and couldn't change it, and had a long commute home. She didn't have much time for lunch.

Prior to that: Breakfast at home: She had breakfast at 6:00 am because of the early commute.

SO here's what she came up with, putting "Helpers" into place to make it easy for her to come home and eat the meal she had planned instead of ice cream.

1 - In addition to lunch she brought from home for her short lunch time, she took a snack for a break at work in mid-afternoon; sometimes a small easy-to-eat salad, sometimes an apple and cheese sticks, that kind of thing.

2 - She also packed a small snack of fruit or maybe a cheese stick for the ride home. So, lunch and two small snacks.

3 -She *changed her route* to avoid the store where she habitually got ice cream. It takes doing something about 20 times to create a habit, so to make a new habit, make it easy on your self, make it the path of least resistance! Just avoid even seeing your favorite ice cream store on the way home after a stressful day! That's what she did, she avoided that store, and she ate her "commute snack" before she was 1/2 way home.

4- She then parked at the front entrance rather than the side, and came straight into the front room with her water bottle from work, sat in the chair with her reading material already waiting, and destressed from work. A couple of deep breathing rounds, some water, some stretching, then she read, and had a notepad to write down to-dos , thoughts/feelings, or other notes. After about 20-30 minutes of calm, she got her planned dinner ready and ate mindfully at the table she had set. (She had been practicing mindfulness for a couple of months already using UC Davis site's free mindfulness meditations)

Result: it worked. She met the goals she set.

About mindless eating: avoid it. When you get ready for a meal or snack, plan to savor every taste, texture, aroma, appearance, and ingredient. Whether a meal or a snack, make the setting pleasing and focused on an enjoyable meal. TV, computer, phone are off, books put away, pets have been fed so they don't pester, and you can enjoy the look, smell, feeling, and taste of your food fully, being mindful of facets of the meal, and your own feelings, sensations, memories, and thoughts as you eat slowly. When we go slow and involve all our senses, it's calming and helps avoid mindless eating and extra calories we didn't want. Here, from Harvard.Edu, a brief on mindful eating:

https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/mindful-eating/



I have two sites here - I'm not associated with either (and they are free material and worksheets that I've used myself and with patients and students) - that are useful. The first about General Stress Management, and the other on values. There are lots of free sites with similar material, if you don't find these useful.

https://healthy.ucdavis.edu/mental-emotional/resource-library/general/relaxation

Free core values worksheets: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/core-values-worksheet/

If you're having problems with stress, short-term CBT therapy is available low cost online, through university student centers if you're in school, and through some Community Mental Health centers. They don't "talk" about problems as much as teach tools that I've always thought should have been part of our education starting in preschool. But anyway, there are resources that fit almost every need. If you need help finding something specific let me know.