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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Discovery: Emotional Eating

I was lucky enough this last week to get that cold that's been making its rounds through the area. I had been taking Zicam in the past weeks to avoid this cold at all possible but I decided I should just let the sickness come and so I stopped with the Zicam. Last week was a hard week to be sick.

A couple of weeks ago I applied for a promotion at the company I work with. I knew an interview was coming but I had no idea I would be sick during it. I was actually sick enough to call in an absence to work. But ofcourse I couldn't do that. I had to make it to that interview. I walked into the office with a box of tissues and a bottle of water. My manager's boss was somewhat surprised and commented that she had never had an employee cry at an interview. My interview went really well even though I struggled over a question or two.

Another part of me being sick is that I always lose my sense of taste by the third or fourth day. It usually is due to my nose being so plugged that my taste buds just don't work. I can try as hard as I want but it will still happen. I've come to realize that the longer my nose is plugged, I tend to eat only what I am hungry for. This week it went one step further. I discovered that when I can't taste the flavor of the food, eating is not as enjoyable!

When did eating become such an emotional event for me? I noticed it at one of my lunches at work. I was almost depressed thinking about not being able to taste the food. Really that's pathetic but I need to figure out how to change this, or make it so it isn't so dominant in my life. I don't really think it's possible to get rid of all the emotional attachment that comes with eating because there are so many memories associated with food. But I dont want food to run my emotions throughout a day.

So I plan to figure out how to make this less apparent. I figure I am going to have to find something else to bring up those same emotions, something more healthy. So the next couple of weeks are going to be a discovery process.

4 comments:

  1. Hope you are getting to feeling better! Did you get the promotion? I think I remember seeing on twitter that you did but I forget for sure

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    1. I am feeling better. Thank you. I'm writing about the promotion for a post tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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  2. Yeah! I hope you are feeling better too! And a promotion would be awesome!

    I've been eating emotionally, and carelessly, as of late. I too am trying to discover the reasons why. I am right here with ya!!

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  3. Emotional eating is something that a LOT of people struggle with - me included. I don't have the absolute answer, but I can tell you that journaling helps. Acknowledging my feelings helps. And something Elle said at the OBOS event - "if you write down, 'I am sad and I want to eat chocolate because I am sad', you can start to see how ridiculous that is and start to correct the behavior and emotional attachment to food."

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