Eliminate Emotional eating part 4: anti-craving behavioral techniques

Eliminate Emotional eating part 4: anti-craving behavioral techniques

Saturday, January 10, 2015 

The past three blogs I dealt with my mainstay for strong emotions: actually facing them, feeling them, and working through them. 

A few people commented about the value of working out/exercise as a coping mechanism, and I want to second that motion (pun intended). Exercise while working through emotions can be a great benefit... think punching out your anger with a kick-boxing workout... or running with tears streaming down your face while you remember a loved one who passed, taking them for a ride on your shoulder (been there, done that!) 

But exercise can also be a means of distraction, one of the "behavioral techniques" that Beck lists in her Day 13 writing. I've got nothing against using behavioral techniques to assist in avoiding eating over emotions. But I do have one cautionary note: these may help in getting you to the point of dealing with your emotion. They work especially well with temporary / fleeting emotions that readily resolve themselves with the passage of time. But if you have BIG things going on emotionally, you eventually do need to face them down. So by all means USE the behavioral techniques, but don't run away from dealing with cognitive dissonance (i.e. a disconnect between how you're feeling and what you deeply value). If left unresolved, all the distraction and moving around the deck chairs on the Titantic (um... food in the environment) won't permanently solve the underlying emotional eating issue. 

And if you have trouble with emotions beyond what these suggestions give, I thoroughly recommend seeing a professional therapist or faith counselor. (hint: Where do you think I learned some of this stuff?) Even Beck says if you find yourself continuing to binge after following her program for several weeks, seek a therapist. 

The techniques, as listed (page 131 of the pink book): 

1. Distance yourself from the food you crave. For me, that means winning the battle of the grocery store, taking the long way around the food offerings at work, etc. Especially when I can tell I'm in a vulnerable place, emotionally.  
2. Drink a no- or low-calorie beverage. Water is great. Unsweetened tea sometimes hits the spot. I like heated low sodium tomato or mixed veggie juice myself at times. 
3. Relax. This is where the breathing exercise comes in, or there are muscle relaxing, stretching exercises that help, too. 
4. Distract yourself. Any number of things can distract you from thinking about your emotion that is troubling you: getting busy DOING something helps a LOT. Doing something you enjoy and can get wrapped up in. Beck has a whole list of possible activities, and exercise is ONE of the things listed.

By arranging your environment, relaxing enough to be back in rational control, and taking up a distraction, you can get yourself to the point of readiness to deal with those emotions. If the emotion was one of those fleeting ones? It may no longer be an issue at all. 

Working on your emotions and resolving them with your values can be hard work, and heavy lifting. But trust me, it's very much worth it. More than being tough, more than being stubborn or having willpower, more than succeeding at weight loss or maintenance: it makes for a better life! 

Tomorrow I'll move on to problem solving (Beck Diet Solution Day 34). Today, I choose: a full and rich life, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 

 Be at peace, friends.