EMOTIONAL EATING .... AGAIN

I found a great book about emotional eating you can read a bit of it online for free. Funny because I was just emotionally triggered by an e-mail and what did I do? I ate chocolate. Chocolate and peanut butter are my weakness for sure.


I had actually chosen this topic before this happened too. Now I know it was meant to be!

There is a great site called www.healthbooksummaries.com

It is so fantastic!!! I love to read but lately I have been so busy with many, many things that I haven’t been able to just sit, relax and read a great book. This site (above) is a place where a couple of health experts have summarized some of the health books they feel are very good. These are actually new books too. They keep adding books to the site, which is so great. I would highly recommend subscribing – which is FREE! The whole book is not there but the summaries are great and they give you some SUPER information.

I was reading one of the books called:

“Shrink Yourself, Break Free From Emotional Eating Forever!” by Roger Gould, M.D.

Funny, I was thinking that I don’t have this problem - ya right!! I proved myself wrong today. I don’t overeat but I definitely grab something that is not that healthy for me when I am stressed or over emotional.

He feels that the feeling of being “powerless” is the reason why people eat emotionally and/or compulsively. He says we should not ask ourselves “Why do you eat?” but “Why are you powerless?”

You know, that is the EXACT issue I was dealing with when I grabbed that chocolate – bad store bought chocolate. I was feeling powerless!

He states that emotional eaters or compulsive eaters (not saying they are the same, I mean 2 types of eaters), are like an addict or an alcoholic. The addict and alcoholic feel that they are powerless when it comes to alcohol and drugs but he says it is really that they feel powerless in some aspect of their life. That makes so much sense! I know some alcoholics (I’m sure we all do) and that fits.

Emotional eaters use food to comfort them when they are feeling uneasy, stressed, emotional, depressed, etc. They chose food instead of really dealing with their problem. That only reinforces their feeling of powerlessness.

He states that the only way to recover that power is to stop and think about what other options you have besides eating. The book is about finding the space between when something has challenged you and your sudden urge to eat (which is not real hunger). Before you grab for that food – what are you thinking? You have been operating on instinct and habit. You have developed this pattern and it just happens without you thinking about it now. You don’t even take the time to stop yourself. Or you don’t know what to think or do during that time if you were to stop yourself.

Food has become your coping mechanism. This is big because you don’t eat like this because you feel you need more nutrition – more food. You eat like that because it helps you cope. If you have been a smoker you know what I mean (I have been).

Diets don’t work and hunger suppressants certainly don’t work. Really, to me those are a joke. How many people really eat ONLY when they are hungry? – not many. I don’t even feel hungry sometimes when I eat – being hungry is NOT the issue.

Counting calories does NOT work. A donut has calories, a cookie has calories. If you are supposed to have 1500 calories in a day then you can do that – it just might not be good nutritional calories. I have NEVER recommended counting calories.

This is a loaded subject and I would like to talk more about it next post.

What I want you to get out of this is:

When you feel that need to eat for emotional reasons, think of how you are feeling powerless at that moment. Stop and think –
“What is making me feel powerless right now?”

Take a look at the web site www.healthbooksummaries.com and check out the book. There are many other fantastic books also. Learn, read, educate yourself. That is the key to handling our health and wellness. It is truly up to each of us.