6 Ways to stop a Bad Day from driving you to EAT!
My favorite part of my job is teaching and coaching clients…. its collaborative, its proactive and problem solving. It keeps my mind and body engaged and active BUT….. When Covid-19 hit I had to go from seeing people in person to online. I am not a computer person - when Zoom is not cooperating or connections go awry i literally i want to have a conniption fit! Instead, i too can find myself walking straight to the pantry or fridge to see if there is an answer there!!!! Here are a few of the tactics that have helped me, or some of my clients make better choices in frustrating times (we have plenty of right now!).
Fact: The world has literally been thrown for a loop in the last 9 months! Another FACT: There is not one soul on this earth that has not turned to food to comfort them at some point in this Covid Pandemic. If reaching for a bag of chips, a carton of ice cream, a box of cookies, or maybe another cocktail or glass of wine cause you’re stressed and feeling spread too thin has become an easy solution, read on.
The problem is that the quick fix of sugar and carbs is momentary and literally leaves you feeling worse once that food high settles, which it inevitably does.
The reason we reach for junk food to mend a broken heart, ease a high-demand job, fix our technology glitch, or quell our fears is physiological and evolutionary. Those are pretty serious motivators so let’s start by getting educated and then get a game plan for what to do instead of loading up on carbs and calories.
No matter how loudly your body screams, “FEED ME JUNK!” you know that a stress binge will leave you feeling bloated, slow, and defeated.
So why do we do it?
Stress causes our bodies to automatically increase respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, metabolism, and the blood flow to our muscles. Your whole body goes into “fight-or-flight response.” And that triggers your body to release a hormone called cortisol which increases your appetite.
Your body knows you need energy to deal with all the B.S. causing you to stress out and it’s “helping” by keeping you fueled for your fight. Worse, all that stress you feel suppresses your production of ghrelin which helps keep your appetite in check. So now you are starving, stressed, and pretty much off the leash when it comes to food. Our brains crave energy-dense foods high in calories, carbs, fat, and sugar because they provide the quickest boost. Thanks for nothing nature!
So what do we do about it?
Legitimately, EVERYONE has their own basket of crap to deal with on the daily, finances, jobs, relationships, health issues; life is brimming with a never-ending series of triggers. But we are powerful beings, smart enough to know what’s happening in our heads and in our bodies, and capable of making better choices. If we want to be our healthiest and happiest, we have to make active decisions to take care of ourselves.
Here are six ways to keep a bad day from driving you to the kitchen:
1. Get outside. A ~5 minute change of scenery is one of the quickest and best ways I know to avoid a binge eating disaster. Go outside, for a walk (bike, jog or swim). Heck, sit on your balcony or porch with a good book and a cold glass of water! Use all your senses to tune into the outdoor space, listen to what you can hear (cars, people, birds or other nature sounds), take some deep breaths, notice the warm sun on your skin, and let nature relieve your stress instead of pushing you to eat. Getting away from the kitchen is the key.
2. Attack a clutter project. Close your eyes and pick one annoying pile of clutter that irritates you every time you see it. Grab a trash bag and a box and go after it. It could be as small as a drawer or as big as a whole closet in the basement. It could be a week’s worth of unfolded laundry or messy shelves in the garage. Time is precious and we are often too overwhelmed to keep up with little stuff. Then the little stuff starts feeling insurmountable. So clean it. Toss it. Give it away. The satisfaction you get from attacking that one eyesore will keep your mind and hands too busy for snacks. The satisfaction of getting something done will almost always give you enough time away to make better decisions.
3. Call/Visit a friend. Stress can keep you isolated. Think of the friends you haven't seen in a bit and make a quick socially distanced date for a short walk or a cup of coffee. Getting together with people you love automatically changes your attitude and your perspective. My friends are great listeners and great story tellers they can really help me forget my issue and bring me out of a funk. I can’t tell you how much better that makes me feel than eating. Love trumps food, every time.
Don't feel like you have the right friends to talk to about your weight loss goals? We’ve got ya covered. Click here to join our Insight Wellness Facebook group I assure you, you’re not alone and someone has a great story to get your laughing, or get your creative juices flowing in a positive direction!
4. Run some errands. Make a list of three tasks that you’ve been putting off. Now get your keys and some ice-water and hit the road . Once you are out of your house, you won’t have access to the junk food that was calling your name. Plus, you’ll end the de-stressing session with your dry cleaning in hand, library books returned, and a full tank of gas. That’s a win!
5. Take a class. Get on YouTube and pick a class (something familiar or brand new you’ve been wanting to try), they’re free and ready for you NOW. One of my favorite free classes is Yoga with Adriene! Surrounding yourself with other people who are taking care of themselves will put you in a better state to do the same. Arrange a class online to do with a friend. The benefits of exercise include a mood boost and a caloric burn that lasts. That’s way more than I can say about that pint of Haagen Dazs.
6. Change your sheets!? Okay, here’s one that might seem a little weird but hear me out. Fresh sheets feel like a new beginning. They smell good. They feel good. I don’t know about you, but I sleep better on fresh sheets. I wake up renewed and feeling clean. The simple act of stripping the bed and putting clean sheets on it says, “That’s over and I’m ready to start fresh!” Plus, if you flip the mattress you get a little strength training in. Clever yes? I call that “stealth exercise.”
Quick Summary
What all six of these techniques have in common is that they remove you from easy access to junk food and they either get your body or your mind moving. You deserve to win and that means making active choices you’ll feel great about.
When stress pushes you toward a passive solution and you feel like you are going to give in to a jug of calories, you can fight back by making an active choice. These are just six suggestions. There are about a million other ways to shift your focus, from washing your dog to planting a garden.
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