@quick
“I ask myself if it is really hunger or something else. Like boredom or desire for something that I especially like. ”

I get it .

How about, “Is it hunger or do I want some water & then a quick nap?”

My answer was – Yes.

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“Know all the good stuff like eat more fruits /veggies, exercise, drink lots of water, taking certain vitamins to help curb hunger/cravings, etc, etc, which I still do, but has anyone experienced this, and figured out some strategies that work when your body is full, but your mind is screaming at you to eat junk? It truly is an emotional hunger, not physical at all, as a lot of the time, I eat when completely stuffed!”

Hi TidyChick, all that good stuff you quote can work well for physiological hunger, but as you realise, the cravings you’re experiencing are coming from an emotional response. I found the following link recently:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-emotional-healing-toolkit

which deals with a holistic approach to emotional healing. Hope you can access this as it may well give you other options than food to ease your pain.

Thinking of you, Annie x

StephB,

You made me laugh, Thanks, I needed that!! At a rate of knots…..

I think a key thing you said, not feeling ashamed afterwards, or guilty even. That just makes the cycle worse, or I suppose that plays a huge part in the cycle.

There is always food everywhere, like you said. That is how I started to get into trouble in the first place. No matter what function, food! And usually not the healthy kind.

Argh, this fight with food! Gotta figure out a way to embrace it and make it work for healths sake, and not have it be such a struggle and fight.

@tidychick

“There is always food everywhere, like you said. That is how I started to get into trouble in the first place. No matter what function, food! And usually not the healthy kind.”

Yes, there is food at functions. Usually it’s foods that are there to impress and not to digest necessarily.

I’ve always thought that the importance is the event or the people attending.

It’s an effort for me but I always eat before I eat. Meaning that I choose to feed myself the foods that are good for me before going to a function that includes food. I have struggled with that because I’ve felt that I have paid for the food with some entry fee. It’s a scarcity mentality. My wife has helped me overcome that as an example of how to act.

Eat little.

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Annie,

Found the emotional healing toolkit. It’s definitely giving me something to think about, thank you. Will print this and keep it handy!

Rockyromero,

You offer some great insights on this forum. Let me ask you, how do you deal with stress? I just need some different strategies….

I was remembering that when I trained as a Samaritan I heard a talk on maintaining psychological well-being. The expert purported that there were only ever 2 ways of dealing with every situation we face:

a) Go into problem-solving mode
b) Go into emotionally-focused coping mode

Each of us have our favourite of the two approaches and the key to A1 emotional health is to make the switch to the other when appropriate.

So, if you have a solvable problem, you do a)
If not, switch to emotionally-focused coping. Now in this mode, many of us on this forum I suspect turn to food to make us feel better but there are other ways eg talking it through (which is where the Samaritans came in).

Worth thinking about?

Annie,

I like b) go into emotionally -focused coping mode. This denotes having to deal with a problem head on and allowing yourself to feel whatever emotion is going on, rather than trying to suffocate and stuff the feelings, emotions, etc with food. Instead of being scared about dealing with your problems, challenges, what have you, you take things head on. If anything, food/junk just compounds the issues and is very much a part of the vicious cycle.

My mother-in-law always says, “It is what it is”. (My husband hates that saying ), but I really like it. It means you may not always be able to control “what” happens in life, but you are in charge of “how” you deal with what comes your way. Although, it sounds easier said than done, I’m sure it can be mastered and done. Baby steps, I suppose, like everything else in life.

This 5:2 sure is a life changing and eye opening experience in so many ways. More so than just the physical changes. Thank you.

TidyChick, I don’t know if this image will help you at all but I’ll describe it just in case. I was talking to a support person in my GP’s office. She is a psychologist but we were just talking: talking about how to eat better (less) and get control of emotional eating.
She said, if I had a friend who was making irrational demands of me and putting me in danger, but who I liked very much, what would I do.

I said that I’d probably still see them, but less often and try to avoid them when they were being demanding/bullying.

She said, eating is like that friend. You don’t have to stop seeing them completely (ie say I’m never going to eat chocolate EVER again!) but I should recognise they want me to do things that are harmful, however enjoyable it is to be with them and limit the time I spend with them.

I found that idea really helpful. That (over)eating wasn’t something me but a something that I had let control me.
Rather like Gollum in Lord Of The Rings. He loves his precious – but it was killing him! Emotional eating is like wearing The One Ring!

And that’s so great about 5:2 that you don’t have to completely break off your relationship with nice eating things but you can keep them at arms length sometimes.

Maybe it sounds loopy but this image of eating as a sometimes bad friend has really helped me and when I suddenly crave more and more of something naughty but nice (as you do!) I say to that craving; Nah! Enough of your bad influence. I’ll see you tomorrow – but enough for today.

Just a way of looking at things that is helping me.

@speedy
“She said, if I had a friend who was making irrational demands of me and putting me in danger, but who I liked very much, what would I do.”

This is not a friend and should be eliminated quickly.

I learned a strategy that would eliminate ANY food immediately from being eaten. I’m surprised that no one ever uses that visualization strategy or even mentions it. It’s worked for me and for my wife, lasting for several years. Enough time to find better alternatives.

It saves much struggling over eating unwanted foods.

It’s an experiential process and is quick. Describing it does not do it justice.

If there is an interest, search for a technique that does as I describe and it will serve you well.

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@speedy
“I’ve tried all sorts of visualisations – …I don’t want to live without chocolate or ice cream; I just want to be in control of them and enjoy them when I want to – ”

My wife wanted to stop eating ice cream, and after doing the visualization, it worked for about 9 months. Good enough. We could have done the visualization again but her desire for ice cream was greatly diminished.

“The only aversion to a food I have ever had lasted about 6 months and it was a very very salty pizza I partially ate when I was ill. The thought of pizza after that was repugnant to me. Well, it was for 6 months ”

You’re on the right track with this. Create an effective visualization that works for you with a food that you want to eliminate. Test. Modify. Test. Done.

“Are you talking about a sort of self-hypnosis I wonder?”

No hypnosis, although, in a way, visualization is very powerful.

Play with it and come up with your own strategy. I believe in people’s creativity and imagination.

I’m here to testify and suggest this possibility for everyone.

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To add to the reflections on visualisation, I have had success with visualising myself enjoying healthy foods (for me it’s a picture of myself in really nice fitness wear eating and really enjoying a crunchy apple). I really want to be that girl.

Annie

Spooky, rockyromero, I had a feeling you might come back and ask that and I’ve been considering my answer! Still working on it.

I have been on the “fast diet” for seven weeks. I have approached it as a change in lifestyle rather than a diet. I have been reading the post on several of the forum strings. This is an interesting string. It really fits in with the lifestyle of reduced calorie living. Michael ideas came from longevity research. I would say that longevity is probably for most of us a deep seated goal. Keeping the long term in my mind helps me with the “hunger”. I appreciate the ideas that all of you have given me. Hopefully in a year we will all be much more comfortable with the new lifestyle. I certainly didn’t get to be a 100 lbs overweight overnight, so I can not expect of get rid of the weight overnight. Hopefully thoughts of the long term will keep me on track each day.

I enjoyed the “Lord of the Rings” comment. Read the entire series when I was in college in the 60’s.

In it for the long term.