Day 18: Filling the gap

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." ~Bill Cosby


I was thinking about emotional eating, today.I don't know why I was thinking about it, except for the fact that I had recently read about it and I was eating greasy, carb-laden french fries at the time I was thinking about it. Correlation? I don't know. You decide.

I don't know a whole lot about emotional eating. I have read a few things like I indicated above. I even subscribed to a miniature course on emotional eating (over-eating). What I have come to understand about it is that sometimes we eat to fill areas where we feel we are lacking. If my interpretation is accurate, then we are trying to fill "gaps" or self-perceived "gaps" in ourselves or our perceptions about ourselves.

Food has been an easy antidote for me. Have a bad day? Eat a bag of potato chips. Fail a test? Eat a pan of brownies. Think I look fat today...eat everything in sight!

I don't understand how this happens. I have not researched this topic in depth. I just know that I do this. Maybe you do it, too.
I do have to say that it has gotten better for me just because I want to heal some of the damage that my over-eating and being large has caused in my physical body.

However, dealing with the causes of emotional eating or over-eating have to be dealt with as well. My friend and I were discussing this today. She said that she has concluded that people who do over-eat and get heavy do it because somewhere along the way we lost our self-esteem. We said to ourselves, "I'm already fat—who cares if I eat that, too?" Then you feel even worse after you eat all of that junk so it just spirals until it is out of control.

It seems like those who have more self-confidence or will-power can say "no" to eating if they are feeling a little "fat".

I can't speak for others, I can only speak for myself. We need to find something to fill these perceived "gaping holes" in ourselves with something other than food.

I will find the link to the emotional eating mini course that I took and include it in a future blog. It is God-based, just so you know. Personally, I find nothing more wonderful that filling myself with the Word of God than with food, but I can't tell you what you should do. This is just something that works for me. There are also many other emotional eating resources on the Internet. Just go to Google and type in "emotional eating".

Remember to be good to yourselves and to each other. The weather is great! I love spring. Let's get out there and walk.

Reminder: We have a mandatory weigh-in on April 27 from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Eagle Bend clinic. At 5 p.m. we will have Ben Dehn, a physical therapist from the Long Prairie Hospital talk to us about exercise. This is also at the clinic.


Disclaimer:
Please note that I am NOT a therapist or mental health professional. I have my degree in psychology, but it doesn't make me a shrink any more than going to McDonald's makes me a hamburger. I am simply writing about things I see, read or think. These are my beliefs or opinions (unless otherwise noted) and should be taken as opinion and inspiration only, not as recommendations by which to live your lives. Thanks, I just wanted to clarify things in case anyone had any concerns.