Sunday 19 January 2014

Getting rid of my emotional eating.

I like Paul McKenna. I blogged in 2012 about using his book and CD, Change Your Life in 7 Days and how useful I found it. Here he is on the Dr Oz Show.

So when I went to Waterstones with a £13.02 gift card and saw Freedom From Emotional Eating for £12.99, I thought it must be a sign.

It's not very comfortable to admit that I'm an emotional eater. I'm not overweight. I weigh about 55kg and I'm 1.61m tall. My diet is good, especially now that I'm NSNG and I've cut out sugar and grains. I have lots of organic veggies, plenty of avocados, eggs, meat. I rarely eat out and pretty much all of what I eat, I've prepared myself. I love exercise so when I over-eat, it's offset by activity.

But there are times when I just can't stop eating. It's mainly nuts, seeds, yoghurt, fruits - nothing terrible, but I can pack them away like a maniac when the urge takes me. And I don't seem to be able to do anything about it. I realise it's self-destructive and that later on I'll wish I hadn't - but there's not cut-off switch in my brain. As much as I'd like to lose 2kg to hit my best running weight, I can't seem to translate that desire into the movement of walking out of the kitchen.

Chiefly it happens at weekends and evenings. Recently I've been trying to pause and analyse why I'm eating. I think I'm usually anxious, bored or tired. Those seem to be the three things that send me to the kitchen cupboard. I am totally sure, however, that whatever it is, it's not hunger.

So, there you are. That's my confession about emotional eating. This morning I read the first chapter of Paul McKenna's book and, just like Change Your Life in 7 Days, I felt it working even though it was just the introduction. The mytical magic of NLP, I think! This book is a 7-day challenge too, and this week I'm going to do what he asks and beat my emotional eating.

I'm going to blog every day and keep track of how I'm getting on.