EXCUSES

Weight loss update – this week I lost another 3.5lbs which takes my total to 13st 13.5lbs lost, so I will be working hard to achieve that 14st award next week.

Last week I talked about emotional eating so I thought I would expand on that topic a bit further

Many of us learn that food can bring comfort, at least in the short-term. As a result, we often turn to food to heal emotional problems. Eating becomes a habit preventing us from learning skills that can effectively resolve our emotional distress. Depression, boredom, loneliness, chronic anger, anxiety, frustration, stress, problems with relationships, and poor self-esteem can result in overeating and unwanted weight gain.

By identifying what triggers our emotional eating, we can substitute more appropriate techniques to manage our emotional problems and take food and weight gain out of the equation.

How to Identify Eating Triggers

Situations and emotions that trigger us to eat fall into five main categories.

• Social. Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.
• Emotional. Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety, or loneliness as a way to "fill the void."
• Situational. Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.
• Thoughts. Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.
• Physiological. Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.

To identify what triggers excessive eating in you, keep a food diary that records what and when you eat as well as what stress, thoughts, or emotions you identify as you eat. You should begin to identify patterns to your excessive eating fairly quickly.

How to Stop Emotional Eating

Identifying emotional eating triggers and bad eating habits is the first step; however, this alone is not sufficient to alter eating behavior  Usually, by the time you have identified a pattern, eating in response to emotions or certain situations has become a habit. Now you have to break that habit.

Developing alternatives to eating is the second step. When you start to reach for food in response to an eating trigger, try one of the following activities instead.

• Read a good book or magazine or listen to music.
• Go for a walk or jog.
• Take a bubble bath.
• Do deep breathing exercises.
• Play cards or a board game.
• Talk to a friend.
• Do housework, laundry, or gardening
• Wash the car.
• Write a letter.
• Or do any other pleasurable or necessary activity until the urge to eat passes.
• Have a glass of water

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As time goes by you will find that you start to feel less attached to the types of food that are no good for you and develop new healthy habits.

On a personal note my Achilles heel was eating chocolate in the evenings whilst watching tv, I used to break up the bar and would sit picking at it, so I decided to limit the amount of time sat in front of the tv and when I did I replaced the chocolate with grapes or some other type of fruit that I could pick at. As the weeks went by I found myself no longer thinking about the chocolate and also breaking that association of watching the tv and eating chocolate.

You can’t expect to make this changes overnight, but if you work hard at trying to make a difference you will start to see significant results within a few weeks.

TIP OF THE WEEK

TALK- since I joined slimming world I have found that the most useful tool at my disposal is talking to someone when I am feeling a bit low and thinking about cheating. You could talk to a loved one or maybe a fellow member. Just by talking you will find that that you soon start to feel better and no longer want to cheat.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK 

INGREDIENTS

198g quark
¼ -½ tsp cardamom seeds, finely crushed
5 tbsp artificial sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 x 100g pots Smooth Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt
1 sachet gelatine
1 egg white
1 pomegranate, halved and seeds removed

METHOD

1. Whisk the quark. Add the cardamom seeds, sweetener, vanilla extract and yogurt, and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth.

2. Place 2 tbsp of hot water in a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle with the gelatine. Stand the bowl in a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Cool, and then whisk into the yogurt mixture.

3. Beat the egg whites until softly peaked and gently fold through the yogurt mixture. Spoon into four individual moulds. Chill into the fridge for 3-4 hours, or overnight, until set.

4. Dip the moulds in hot water for a few seconds and tip out onto serving plates. Sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds and serve immediately.

Tip: *Pregnant women, the elderly and babies should not eat raw eggs.