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Emotional Eating |
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Chocolate chip cookies were the reward for making it through a long and difficult week. I was standing in my kitchen over a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. The warmth from the oven and the tray washed over me, and I inhaled the wonderful, chocolaty aroma as I dislodged one of the cookies and started eating it. A feeling of happiness washed over me. Before I knew it, I had eaten a dozen cookies. Fifteen minutes later, I was bending over the toilet vomiting. I had been on a very healthy diet for the past three months, eating lots of fruit, vegetables and unrefined carbohydrates. My system, now unaccustomed to refined sugar and flour, rebelled against the “poison” I had just poured into myself. Upon reflection, I stopped to think about what had led me to scarf down a dozen cookies in quick succession. |
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Emotional eating—the hallmark of irrational behavior I reviewed my week. On Monday, my husband and I found out we would have to replace our garage door—an $800 proposition. Then, because I couldn’t get the garage door open, I had to park in the street. My two children did not like the change in routine. My two-year-old had a meltdown every time I told him to go out the front door instead of the kitchen door to get to the car. Who knew that going out a different door would constitute a crisis to a two-year old? Since we needed money to pay for a new garage door, the obvious solution was for me to go out and get a job to earn the money to help pay for it. But by the time I paid for taxes and daycare, there would be nothing left to buy a garage door. Wonderful! It was at that moment I started craving chocolate chip cookies. All week, I tried to stay in control of the craving. I exercised at the gym, and the endorphin rush temporarily helped me to put off the desire to cram cookies down my throat as fast as I could. But then the weekend came, and my iPod froze at the gym. I tried to follow all the troubleshooting instructions on the website but to no avail, so I headed to the mall and the Apple store. The mall my husband and I took the children to has an indoor playground, and we were required to park our stroller outside the playground. When we were done, we came out to find that our brand new double stroller had been stolen! My blood pressure went through the roof! |
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After dropping my husband and the kids back at home for a nap, I stood in the grocery store, holding a package of cookie dough in each hand. A fleeting thought occurred to me: If I could just sit quietly and take a few deep breaths, perhaps I could marshal my emotions and not feel the need to eat chocolate chip cookies.
Needless to say, my desire to eat cookies completely overcame any desire to sit quietly and breathe and meditate. Hence, there I was, standing over a tray of warm cookies, scarfing them down as if there were no tomorrow. Learning to overcome emotional eatingThe moment of clarity I had made me consider what yoga meditation is all about. Yoga meditation teaches you to observe your train of thoughts from a neutral perspective. But that was impossible for me at a time of crisis such as this. The ability to let go of attachments and fears develops over a long period of time. The ability to distance yourself from your thoughts and to collect your emotions is a skill you develop with regular yoga meditation over time your natural body shape evolves from this skill. It is who you are when you bring your body, mind and emotions into balance and harmony. Read
Amanda's 30-day Challenge Journal Check back next month for our feature article entitled "The Thin Point".
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Previous Topics In Search of a Natural Body Weight ‘Put Your Foot in Your Mouth’ – The Value of Good Flexibility and a Strong Spine Cultivating Your Natural Body Shape Through Yoga Is Anybody Home: How Yoga Relaxation Reduces Stress Looking for an article? Check our Archives |
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