Are you an Emotional Eater?
Do your feelings drive your appetite and your eating behavior?
Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Do you continue to eat when you are full?…stuffed?…about to explode?
Do you ever find yourself on the couch with your hand at the bottom of a LARGE bag of chips?
Do you eat like this while you are alone?
When you are bored?
When you are stressed?
To take your mind off of your problems?
Do you feel guilty about this behavior?
YES
Then you are an Emotional Eater.
You’re not alone.
Janet Jackson and Britney Spears are celebrity examples of Emotional Eaters
So What Do I Do?
If you think that your manner of eating may constitute a threat to your health, please contact your doctor.
And here is some solid reference info:
- Wikipedia lists 25 different types of eating disorders
- Medscape has a good Eating Disorder Resource Centre
- The Canadian National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) has lots of info & resources
- The Mayo Clinic
What Do I Do Right Now?!
One tool you should look into right away is Mindful Eating.
Here are some links to mindful eating sites. TCME CAMP System Dr.Susan Albers Amazon book list
In the past few years, the practice of mindful eating has grown out of the more generalized psychiatric practice of Mindfulness Meditation, made popular by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
It finds it’s origin in Buddhist teachings. The Buddhist practice of Mindfulness can be defined as “awareness of one’s thoughts, actions or motivations”.
A similar practice is currently being espoused by Oprah’s protege, Mr. Eckhart Tolle.
TLC’s – I Can Make You Thin with Paul McKenna employed mindful eating in it’s weight loss plan.
In the 1920’s, Horace Fletcher was the diet guru of the day with his theory of Fletcherizing.
Mindful Eating – The Basics
Eat consciously. By this I mean:
- Take a bite of food
- Put down your implements/sandwich/glass/etc…
- Chew your food
- Taste your food
- Enjoy your food
- Repeat until you ‘think’ you are starting to feel full
- Stop Eating
- Eat again when you are hungry – not bored or nervous – listen for a ‘grumbly tummy’
That’s It.
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Thanks.
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This is a very helpful (and entertaining) post on an important cause of overeating and unhealthy weight gain. I like your summary of how to eat mindfully.
I would love to exchange links with you for our blogrolls. Please let me know if your interested. I have a lot of clients who have food issues. Thanks, marcie
Sounds good.
I will add your site today.