Are you emotionally eating?

Thursday 26th March 2020
How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.

I know everything different right now but we can still wake up in the morning and be positive about the day ahead.  I've had a good sleep, mom's good at the moment, Alfie's even just played his favourite game with me and that hasn't happened in a long time, yep I'm focusing on the good stuff that's going on rather than, well you know what....

Last night I had a virtual workshop (if you've attended one don't forget to do the feedback form 
WW Virtual Workshop Feedback Form ) 31 lovely members all interacting, I'm loving them because I'm meeting new members I've not met before, got to meet Ron for the second time as he was on my Thursday night one last week, he's a lovely chap and has lost 6lb over the last two weeks after being on a plateau for a while, proving these strange times don't have to mean we all give up on taking care of ourselves.  It's more important than ever right now to take care of YOU and yours and help others where you can.  

I was going to have pizza last night because it's in the fridge and use by today, but I wasn't that hungry so I decided to have it today, I'm not going to eat just for the sake of it and I'm not as active as I usually am so I don't need as much food.  Portion sizes definitely are important right now but so is actually paying attention to whether you're actually hungry or not, also if you think you are, is it physical hunger or head hunger.  

With this emotional, stressful time we're all going through right now, emotional hunger can give us yet another problem to worry about, for so many of us overeating, comfort eating is our go to when we have emotional and feelings we are struggling with, one member on the virtual workshop last night admitted that is definitely her, it was lovely to see her actually as I haven't seen her for a long time because she attends another coaches workshop.  How do we tell the difference, how do we handle these feelings and stop ourself looking for happiness and solutions in the fridge or biscuit barrel?  

What is head (emotional) hunger ?(just in case you need reminding!)  
It comes on suddenly, an urgency for something and doesn't care when you last ate - head hunger will hit at anytime.  You will probably crave a particular food, something sweet or savoury but then again it could be a desire just to eat anything and everything.  You want to eat it right away, you're not willing to wait.  This kind of hunger is associated with stress, anger, anxiety and other strong emotional or triggered by activities such as tv watching, seeing someone else eating a specific food then you want it.  You'll usually eat it mindlessly, not even tasting it and a lot of people feel guilty afterwards.  

It doesn't sound much fun when you read what it is does it!

Now physical hunger is a completely different thing, it comes on gradually and builds, it's directly related to when you last ate.  If you're truly hungry you'll eat an apple or something equally healthy.  You can usually wait to eat whilst you cook something.  It's easier to stop when you're full if you're eating for hunger.  

I love to eat when I'm hungry, I tend to taste the food more and enjoy the experience. 

The more thought I put into the meals I eat, the less I struggle with emotional eating because I'm satisfied both physically and emotionally by the delicious foods I have to look forward to eating.  Food is such an important part of my life, so I try to ensure I'm going to enjoy everything I eat.

How can you handle head hunger?  Keeping a food diary helps, use your WW app to track everything you eat planned or unplanned, track it all, be honest with yourself on what's going on with your eating habits right now.  Distract yourself, call a friend, read a book, find something to do - I know these things are changing right now as we're all on lockdown but there are other things you can do, jump on a virtual workshop and talk about how you're feeling.  Test to see if it's emotional or real hunger by having something 'healthier'.   Just remember if you ignore it for long enough it will go away, but if you don't face the emotions you're trying to ignore, they will hang around and possibly get worse.  Know that it's okay to experience all emotions, especially at a time like this, there is no right or wrong way to be feeling.  If you feel like you could cry, hell go ahead, have a sob.  If you're worried about how you're going to cope financially, overeating isn't going to help your budget, but getting out a pen and a piece of paper and doing some figures, or having a chat with some will help. 
If you're thinking how am I going to stay fit when I can't get to my gym, don't see how many doughnuts you can lift, get looking for other ideas of how to get healthy in the house.  

TALK, don't keep stuff in, if you're struggling with your eating right now, talk to your WW coach, get in the virtual workshops and share those feelings, make sure you're on Connect on the WW app, in your Facebook group and interact with others.  We're a community, we're a family, WW is my tribe!  I love you all.

Mwah, let's have a great day, I'm going to be online at 8.30 this morning and 5.30 tonight, links in the Dudley & Walsall Connect group on the WW app, if you're struggling with the technology give me a call and I'll talk you through it, or message me on Facebook or post in the group, we have the technology - let's use it.

Luv you


Love me xx