Hey all,
I hope you are all well and quarantining like rock stars. Well, maybe not like rock stars that life style isn’t so great for your immune system😆
The marketing manager, Sarah, I work with for my book gave me a great suggestion that might be useful at this time. How do we deal with stress eating at this well, quite stressful time. So here is a list to get you started, and if this is a real difficultly for you going through the method in my book would be ideal in many ways because I built it in major part to learn how to overcome emotional eating. The Audiobook version should be out very soon and I tried to be very comforting and calming in that version. My voice lends itself well to being calming, although it’s not so good at parties or bars( which now that I think about it is very useful since parties and bars are not the place to be right now😆)
7 tips to avoid stress eating:
schedule some kind of tasty food to eat at intervals that work well for you. Trying to deny yourself is adding another layer of stress to an already stressful time. Schedule it ahead of time so you can enjoy the delicious anticipation of what you will eat. Pre-portion the proportion of what you will savor. Do it ahead of time so you know when to stop. Eat slowly and pay attention to it while you eat it. Make it an event for yourself or for your family.
Schedule your days. A large part of your hormonal system is built around your schedule and the timing of your normal days. Make some kind of schedule and stick well to it particularly with food and sleep. Lack of sleep and odd sleeping schedules will disregulate some of your normal hormonal cycles leaving you more apt to over eat and to eat more junk food.
Schedule your meals ahead of time so you aren’t eating randomly. It’s harder to stay centered on eating well at that moment. If you know ahead of time, you’ll have fewer decisions to make at times of great stress.
Pay attention to your food while you eat. Almost no one does this and this alone could revamp your entire diet long term.
Be careful to not beat yourself up. There are things you can control and things you can’t. Right now there is a lot going on internationally, nationally and so on. You are doing the best you can. Drop some kindness on yourself. Remember it’s actually survival of the most Adaptable not the fittest. Flow with the moment the best you can. You’ve adapted before and you will again.
Be careful with alcohol and marijuana, neither one is particularly known for it’s ability to reduce your appetite, in fact even if you just go by reputation they both make not eating too much junk food more difficult. Alright, alright, alright.
Decide ahead of time what you will do if you find yourself aimlessly drifting to eating lots of treats or just eating too much in general. For example, maybe you say to yourself “self if I find myself in this situation I will walk around the house for 10 minutes.” Btw, that has worked wonders for me. It gives my body and mind something else to do. My doggo, Yilva, and I cruise the house for a bit or walk down to the mailbox. Whatever it is just make it something you enjoy or something that requires all your attention.
Bonus number 8. Things are a little crazy right now, it’s just a fact. Be careful not to make food another source of anxiety. Make these suggestions and meal time something to build your schedule around and make it a little fun. This isn’t do or die time with your diet. Try to encourage food and meals to serve you rather than have you serve the food (that is a really unintended pun, but I like it) and junk food.
Come say hi at Nytality.com or on Instagram @Nyholmvitallifemethod.
Copyright Todd Nyholm 3/30/2020
