When Life Happens ...

I've been waiting for something to happen that triggered strong emotions.


It wouldn't have mattered whether the emotions were happy, sad, fearful or what--strong emotions can cause a desire to eat, particularly in binge eaters. In my case, the urge to eat was always for the junk foods I was usually trying to avoid.


And here I am tonight, pouting because the Green Bay Packers lost. Pouting angrily. I lived in Wisconsin for about 40 years so I'm deeply fond of the Wisconsin Badgers and the Pack.


I've been waiting for something emotional to happen to see how I would react now that I seem to be an ex-binger. And yep, it's pretty different. I had my usual morning of coffee with cream and a little sugar (out of honey--bleh even turbanado tastes awful to me now.) I also had my usual dish of home-made yogurt. Wow, the yogurt was fabulous! It's taken a while, but I've grown to love the taste of the yogurt by itself rather than needing to have fruit as the dominant flavor. I still add fruit--today it was an organic banana and a ripe persimmon--but I like a little pure yogurt with each bite of fruit.


Anyhow, I digress. My morning and mid-day were normal. I didn't eat before the Packer game because I was too nervous. I drank a pineapple water kefir and that was it. Now that the game's been over for a while and I'm calming down, I find I have no appetite at all. Unless something changes in the next hour or so it looks like I'll wait until tomorrow to eat.


No urge to binge at all. When eating loses it's importance as a stress management tool there's just no impulse to binge. Since I'm enjoying my whole foods so much, that's pretty weird really.


The next time you get emotional, find your "comfort" in something other than food--put eating in its proper place.


Update 1/16/12: As I suspected, I never became hungry last night and I'm no more hungry than usual this morning. I really believe the "weak from not eating" is either a mental belief creating reality or a symptom of inability to burn stored fat. 


I do plan to eat a complete and healthy menu today but no extra portions.