Exercise:
45 min. brisk walk on treadmill
Breakfast: 1-serving Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, 2 Tbsp almond butter, 1/2 banana sliced, 1 cup instant decaf coffee
Snack: banana larabar, spoonful of almond butter
Lunch: <1 c. leftover panzanella from last night
Afternoon Snack: green smoothie: 1 cucumber, juice of 2 lemons, 8 kale leaves, popcorn drizzled with vegan margarine (more than my share!)
Dinner: non-dairy vanilla yogurt drizzled with agave, 2 carrot apple muffins with almond butter
Observations:
Okay, the novelty is wearing off. Today, I was just wanted to eat…to comfort eat.
There’s been a lot going on lately –wedding details, school starting, the reality of selling our house– and I’ve been stressing. It’s my typical M.O. to internalize these things, mull them over, and spend a lot of time in my head. Too much time in my head. Yes, I expect a lot of myself, and I know this is not good.
Anyhow, I had a big realization today that I wanted to eat my stress away. Duh. I’ve always known that I’m an emotional eater, but today it became so clear. I wasn’t hungry, and I didn’t have a craving for anything in particular. Pretty much cookies, brownies, chocolate would have done the trick. I’m not talking about a small serving…I would have preferred 2 or 3 servings of whatever to numb the stress away.
It’s pretty clear that I need to find a healthier alternative for relieving the stress, no?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i thinking that just being aware of the fact that you wanted to eat your stress away is a good start. I might suggest going for a walk, making a tall glass of iced (decaf, of course) tea. Reading. Or maybe just sit and put down some thoughts of paper.
@ denise~
Thanks. Yes, it’s a good start — I’m way more aware of it, now. Great suggestions, I particularly like the one about sitting and putting all my thoughts down on paper, like a mind dump. I think that would be very kethartic (sp?) for me.
Sounds like you’re doing great on this cleanse-and it’s great to realize that emotional eating thing. You’re not alone on that one! I like gum when I get the urge to nibble on something-it gives my mouth something to do while I work on destressing!
Now that’s a great realisation to have! Doing this cleanse is worth it just for that.
Emotional eating can be sneaky. Often you think you’re hungry but what you’re hungry for isn’t food, it’s peace/excitement/love/acceptance/whatever.
@ Gina~
thanks for the encouragement! It’s funny — lately, I don’t like gum that much. I think it’s because I’m always drinking water and gum makes my mouth sensitive to cold water. Weird, huh?
@ Sami~
Yes, it was worth doing the cleanse, just to learn that. I need to find a more constructive outlet for my stress/worries. Unfortunately, with 2 kids, I can’t just take a walk when I need one, ya know?
I can relate. What you need is a healthy stress eating alternative. I think this is easier than ditching that kind of eating all together as much as I wish I could.
Damien makes a really good chocolate smoothie. And sometimes a good piece of fruit was suffice for me. But I know the craving to eat away the stress… This is why having a house devoid of that kind of food really helps - you figure something else out.
@ renee~
The good news is that I don’t usually crave the snacks that I keep for my husband. (Oreos, cheese nips,…) They do nothing for me.
That chocolate smoothie sounds really good. That would work nicely because *you* only make one serving. My problem with brownies or chocolate bars (etc) is that it’s very hard for me to stop at a single serving.
But you’re right — I do need to find another alternative.