Emotional Eating
Yesterday I attempted to begin a cleanse. Yet again. The first time I ever tried the Crazy, Sexy, Diet 21 day adventure cleanse I lasted one, count em’, one day. The next time? Two days. In December, SEVEN days.
Yesterday?
I had coffee at 5:30 PM.
Here is the thing, and for once I could really feel it yesterday, I am an emotional eater. I know we have talked about this before, but it bears repeating because it is something I deal with on a daily basis. It is like an alcoholic who can no longer be around booze, unfortunately we have to eat to survive. Food will always be there, always around, always the temptress dressed in sugar.
And trying to cleanse while also feeding small children who don’t have to cleanse their grilled cheese sandwiches is a disaster. You are constantly making two meals, for every meal, everyday. And I wondered why I was still working on school with the kids at 5 PM last night.
The kicker is when things start to get hard emotionally. As soon as I begin to get frustrated with my kids, excessive whining yesterday morning, and interrupting when I was on the phone with my Mommy, and crying, and not paying attention during school, and dilly dallying, and frustration over the state of the house…I want to grab a cookie. Go get a coffee. Have chocolate. Eat some crunchy chips.
Anything to mask the feeling that I am really having.
By 5 PM yesterday I was c.RAZY and as I headed to the grocery store I realized, that there is some serious work that needs to be done dealing with those feelings probably before I go crazy and drop all of my vices at once. The reality is I don’t drink, I don’t smoke…anything, I don’t eat meat, I eat mostly organic food, I don’t drink soda ever, I love my juicer, so I am seemingly basically pretty healthy.
I just eat sugar…when I am sad, frustrated, tired, lonely, happy, overwhelmed, anxious, excited, or celebrating. Which really, one or more of these emotions come every.single.day.
What is a girl to do?I made a list. I am a list-er. I like me a list. It helps clarify what needs to be done, where I want to be going, what I need to do to get there. For my journey to overall wellness, my list looks like this:
- daily meditation
- vitamins everyday
- exercise 6x week (Sunday’s off)
- juice daily
- brush 2x floss 1x daily (Some days I get to dinner and wonder if I even brushed)
- wash face in evening, sunscreen lotion in AM
- neti pot daily (yes, it feels weird)
- eat mostly vegan
- lose the white sugar
- increase flexibility
- yoga
- body work (massage, reiki, etc.)
- daily spiritual reading
- 70 oz. of water/day
- mindful eating (tasting the food as you eat)
- dropping acid inducing coffee (for the thousandth time or keep it and do everything else well)
- add daily gratitude
- live whimsy
- time in nature as often as possible
- weights
- add prayer
- walk dogs WAY more often
- random acts of kindness
- dress to feel good
- read 1 of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings in the morning
- more sex (I am not an addict, we’re just busy)
- dry brush before showering
- off my anxiety medication
To get to number 28 I need to incorporate most of the others. Some things like random acts of kindness don’t seem like they help with wellness off the bat, but I think spreading joy to others makes us more joyful.
To get started I am going to type these up on a Word file and use it as a checklist at the end of everyday. That way instead of doing everything at once, I can pick some today and slowly add the others. By looking at the list every night, it will remind me of what I am trying to change, and allow me to be cognizant of where I still need to work on things. I wrote it in my journal, but everyone knows how once that page is turned it is all but forgotten.
Yup, I will be busy, and I will keep you updated. But a well Mommy makes for a well family. It is true. You are what you eat, sleep, read, think about, and spread. And those around you are too, because they are in your space. For better or for worse.
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