Attacking Emotional Eating

February 24, 2005

An online friend was asking me for tips with emotional eating, and this was my reply:

Here are a few tricks I’ve used to keep myself in check with emotional eating.

#1: Don’t bring the bad shit home. No, you won’t eat just one.

#2: Fat free is still not a guarantee of health. Several surveys show that fat free foods are often consumed in multiples of their fat-laden friends, upping your calorie intake. Oh, and another thing. Fat free usually means sugar or sodium high. Neither are good for you.

#3: Pre-protect yourself from vending machines. Not sure your working environment, but if you’re in cubicle hell, there’s a drawer or bin for you to fill with healthy snacks. Try putting some oatmeal (not instant) in there, and some honey, and some walnuts or almonds. A little oatmeal and water cooks in a microwave in 45 seconds. Squirt just a teaspoon of honey and sprinkle about a dozen nuts on top, and you’ve got a fairly low calorie, high fiber, and healthy fats snack. *Way* better than a Snickers.

#4: If you feel your stress rising, and you want the evil treat, try taking a quick walk around the building first. Can’t spare a few minutes? Bullshit. Unless you’re a surgeon, you should be able to get up and take a quick break. Walking, especially somewhat briskly, will get several of your body’s systems going. Try taking a brisk walk and ending with a drink of water.

#5: Put up a power poster or two. What do I mean? Put up a little collage of healthy people in your cube or at your workstation. Try sneaking a little list ( like a top 10 reasons Brent wants to be healthy forever) into your area so that you can refer to it throughout the day. (I say “sneak,” because I’m a little shy about sharing my inner motivations with my colleagues).

#6: Eat more. If you’re on a reduced calorie diet, double check that you’re not taking in too few calories, and/or that you’re spacing out your meals appropriately. The way I lost 60 pounds involved eating breakfast, a snack two hours later, a lunch two hours after that, another snack two or three hours later, and dinner a few hours later. I ended with a 50 calorie treat (anything you want in 50 calorie size) around 7:30PM. Six meals. Yep!

#7: Make your biggest meals between breakfast and lunch. Filling up in the earlier part of the day ensures that you’ll have a better sense of fullness for when your snacking most likely will manifest. Times that are most common for snacking are around 2:30PM, 4PM, 5PM, and 7PM. Those correlate with your wearing out times at the office, the commute home, and most people’s TV viewing time.

#8: While I’m on the subject, television is a killer. More people put more horrible things in their mouth while watching a glowing box than at any other time. I am a SUPER offender on this account. Give me a TV and some time to forget about life, and you could sneak a chocolate-coated fat sandwich into me without me even noticing. Why? Because the blinking lights stimulate parts of our cerebral cortex
like the pineal gland, which controls two impulses: sex and hunger. Well, sex sells? Sure does. It sells hunger, too. You can’t get a little aroused without getting the least bit hungry. Stay extra vigilant around your TV set, and if you followed #1, it won’t matter as much anyhow.

#9: There’s precious little at the drive thru that’s good for you. Wendy’s chili is actually not so bad. Chicken sandwiches are usually worse than burgers. The buns are always sugar-laden and highly processed white flour. The lettuce is almost always iceburg. Fries? Oh shush. If you’re at the drive thru looking at fries, you’re already halfway to hell anyway. But… BUT! Sometimes, you’re stuck at a fast food place. Make the best choices you can, don’t lament, and do NOT just eat things because they came with the meal.

#10: This should be #1, but I’m lazy. FIRE YOUR INNER CRITIC and HIRE AN INNER COACH. The “Inner Critic” is the voice inside you that acts like it’s trying to help. It’s the one that gets down on you when you say the wrong thing to people. It’s the one that reminds you why you’re in a stupid job instead of hosting a reality show. The Critic is the first to point out your inadequacies, and usually with logic that you can’t refute. The Inner Critic acts as your mind reading power, which is when you assume what other people think about you based on your own internal reasoning.

Fire this guy. The Critic *thinks* he’s doing you some good. He’s trying to sedate you from the pain. He’s trying to suggest that he’s got better ways to deal with things. That he’s only trying to help. Well, he’s trying, but he sucks at it. Fire the critic. How? Try replacing those thoughts with an Inner Coach.

An Inner Coach is someone who’s encouraging. They hold you to the standards you want to hold yourself to, but not in a cruel way. They believe in discipline, not punishment. An Inner Coach knows how to comfort you when you have a setback, while at the same time not coddling you, forgiving you, and still finding ways to encourage you to take another shot.

Anyone want to add a few more?

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