Wednesday Weekly: Let it go!

And no, I'm not talking about Elsa from Frozen (if you have kids you know who that is, if not, well, just... let it go).

So this week's meeting topic is about eating when you're not hungry. Scientifically it's referred to as hedonic hunger. We all know it as emotional eating.

Check out this commercial from the last program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0MANVAWs4w

Oh man this is funny because it's SO TRUE!

No matter what we're feeling food is there. Celebrating? Let's eat! Bored? Let's eat! Depressed? Let's eat! Stressed out? Let's eat!

And let's face it, the things we eat during these emotional times are always the less than healthy options.

So how do we stop this kind of eating before it gets out of hand and derails our weight loss or maintenance efforts?

Here are two strategies that I have found work for me:

1) I ask myself if I'm hungry enough to eat a piece of chicken breast and some broccoli. If the answer is no, then I know that I'm not really hungry, I'm just looking for food for some other reason.

2) I will make make myself eat something healthy first - like a bag of baby carrots or an apple - to see if that does the trick. Most of the time, I will find that eating something healthy makes me feel better and I realize I didn't really want whatever junk food I was craving a few minutes ago. On the other hand if I've finished my apple and I'm still craving something, I will figure out how to indulge and count the points.

I remember hearing somewhere that every behavior we have gives us something positive - yes, even unhealthy destructive behaviors are giving our brains a positive result in some way. That emotional eating may be bad for you, but you're getting some sort of positive emotion from it (even if it's only temporary and you feel bad or guilty later).

So you really have to ask yourself what it is you're really after - and then find a way to replace the food with something else that will give you the same result. Feeling sad and a pint of ice cream will make you happy? So will calling a friend. Or watching a funny movie. Feeling stressed and want to stop at the drive through to feel better? Meditate. Get a massage. Take 5 minutes to yourself to just breathe. Work out!

Eventually when you start to make these healthier habits a ritual for dealing with your feelings the food will be easier to avoid as a means to an end. I know for me, I definitely still have days where I want to eat all the food! But I also know that doing something else that is healthy will give me the same feeling without the guilty feelings later on.

Here's what NOT to do: Eat around a craving.

If you find yourself craving a particular food, and you eat something healthy and/or you distract yourself for a bit, and you find that you STILL want that high points food - figure out how fit into the plan. Or find a good substitute. And I mean a good substitute (don't try to sub a chocolate chip cookie with some cauliflower). Otherwise you'll end up eating around your craving and in the end you'll end up having eaten more points than if you just had the small indulgence in the first place. AND you don't want to live life feeling deprived. That's not sustainable and that's not what maintenance is all about. Weight watchers is for life and sometimes you need to live your life.

So that's my take on emotional eating. Those feelings don't go away when you reach maintenance, it's just that by now you have learned other healthier ways to deal with it. And I have days where I don't - and I eat that comforting chocolate chip cookie anyway. That's life.