Jump Start 2004 - Attitude for July

By prism{HS}

Greetings Masters,
Greetings Mistresses,
Greetings slaves,

Over the last few weeks this one has been focusing on a few things to help in weight loss. This month she is going to focus on mental aspects.

We can eat right, exercise and all that good stuff, but without the right frame of mind, all that can be lost.

By now many of you are either doing really well on the Jump Start or have fallen off the wagon, perhaps becoming frustrated. It’s not too late to jump back on and get started again. There may be many reasons for one falling. This one is going to try to touch base with a few of them.

We’re a nation of overeaters: Forty-one percent of us are overweight; 23 percent are obese. We eat and eat until we are stuffed. We may be full but some people still shovel in the food, even when our brain is telling us to stop. Why is this?

Look around; there are a few things that may contribute to this. One could be, “emotional hunger.” Emotional hunger is a vicious cycle. It happens when we let emotions such as stress, depression, boredom, fear, loneliness and emotional emptiness trigger us to eating. Ever refer to things as “happy food?” This one thinks most people have. Have you ever watched a program or a person run to the pint of ice cream because they were depressed?

We have incorporated food into almost everything we do. Instead of “eating to survive” we “survive to eat.” Food is accessible as never before. You can find it everywhere. As well as marketed through commercials and billboards. Ever sit and watch T.V. and see a pizza commercial? Although you may have just eaten, you start to crave pizza. Ads can make food look very, very good.

How do we fight things that triggers an urge to eat?

Try a few of these things:

• Go for a walk or a run.
• Call a friend, take a bath, read a book, listen to music.
• Ask yourself: Am I really hungry? Is it really good for me to eat this food? Is this really what I want?

There are other things that may contribute to over eating. Dieting itself can be a trigger. Think about it. We believe that dieting is a way to lose weight. In doing this we may diet and think we are depriving ourselves from foods that we have come to love. Sometimes think we may be starving ourselves. So we eat and then feel a sense of disgust or weight gain and start all over again.

How do we break this cycle?

• Don’t use the word “diet.” Choose a plan that will teach you how to eat right or watch what you eat. Something that won’t deprive you of things you like.
• Try eating foods that satisfy you.
• Stop when you’re full.
• Learn to trust your body to tell you when it’s hungry and when it’s satisfied.
• Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t wait until your next meal.

“Stress eating” is when we eat when we experience stress. Why is this? When we experience stress, our body responds by unleashing the stress hormone cortisol. When you have chronic, unrelieved, day-after-day stress, your body remains awash in cortisol, which causes you to eat.

How do you try to curve your stress eating?

• Try to identify the sources of your stress, then find things to de-stress yourself other then eating. Again, exercise is a great way to help diminish your body’s stress reaction.
• Work on understanding the various emotions that are triggering your overeating.
• Once you discover what may be your emotional trigger and become emotionally connected to yourself, your need to over eat will most likely go away.

Hope some of this helps. It has helped this one.

Until next month!!

Thank you for your time.

prism

prism_hs@yahoo.com