Posted by headachequeen on November 28, 2004, at 17:49:29
In reply to Re: change of subject, posted by rainy on November 28, 2004, at 7:44:21
>
> I'm more inclined to suspect acupuncture as the culprit--that or not enough Topamax and/or Trazodone since neither seem to be doing their job. Maybe the Topamax does keep me from falling deeper into the pit.
> You may be right, Kat about emotional hunger, I've been missing our family terribly, but even cayenne pepper and hot, hot Dijon mustard taste like nothing. Coffe has no flavor. This is
> acute.
>Rainy, what dosage of topomax are you at now?
as for the emotional thing...
for lack of a better adjective, I use emotional, dietitians are now getting into the discussion, telling us that people are turning to food to get them through bad times and emotionally stressful times...it is a case of eating not from physical hunger but from emotional hunger, because you are stressed, anxious, angry, upset, even because you are happy or in a celebratory mood...
of course the eating disorders are at the extreme of this, where the normal eating routines are so disrupted that a person binges or starves and feels completely helpless to control his or her own dietary patterns.
Emotional eating is less debilitating than these extremes (the disorders) and more widespread. In fact it is believed that everyone succumbs to some extent, however food they say won't solve things in the long term (no kidding, sez I)The food eaten in these instances is numbing, the person doesn't even taste it. Then the person feels worse, eats more and the problem spirals.
According to the dietitians and nutrition specialists involved in this latest study, an American one, Americans - I think they could say North Americans, though - ecpect to always feel happy, however irrational that may be, so when there is something wrong, they expect the quick fix, and food is everywhere. Reaching for food can be an attempt to recreate happier times in childhood, or other moments when the person was comfortable and content, often or most usually times when food was involved...
think of the happy times in our lives, they most often involve food, preparing food, or eating...
special meals, special foods, and so on.One of the suggestions that accompanied one of the interviews included alternatives for the person who turns to food...
instead of turning blindly to food have a glass of water; have a cup of tea or coffee; go for a walk, pet the dog; call a friend; do something you enjoy doing; go to another area of the office or house and do something that will occupy your thoughts and put the idea of eating aside.Physical activity helps people clear their minds and cope with stress stress, and excerise increases blood sugar making one less hungry physically.
another idea was that before eating anything, decide what it is you want to eat, not just the actual food, but the flavour, texture...
simply sticking food in one's mouth is not really satisfying, but if one takes the time to decide if one wants spicy or sweet, salty or chocolatey, soft or crunchy, chicken or peanut butter, and so on, weighing all the options, then the food when it is eaten is more satisfying leading to less binge eating and less constant eating...
also slow and careful preparation is supposed to help with lessening eating...
fast food and packaged foods tend to increase the frequent eating...Dividing a box or large bag of snack foods into one portion servings and packaging them and storing them that way helps as well...
if the box of crackers or cookies or whatever is divided into one-portion servings then one is less inclined to eat the whole thing...and parents who use food as rewards for behaviour set the pattern for food abuse as their children grow up...
Another suggestion is that instead of eating when one does not know why one is driven to the cupboard or refrigerator, sit down and write about the feelings that are at work at that time...
it may help you come to terms with your self and to better understand yourself....
that is it from the notes so far...eventually this may all come together into something that comes together...
or it may end up being trashed as something that I no longer wish to follow up
but it has been an interesting bit of work thus far and if it helps someone here then it has been worth the effort...the one thing that has been repeated and repeated is that we expect things to be fixed instantly...
our emotional selves were not damaged overnight and will not be fixed overnight....binge eating, anorexia, bulemia, and the other eating disorders including this milder but more pervasive one are symptoms of a greater problem and that problem needs to be addressed before the symptoms can disappear...
this takes time...I spent the afternoon interviewing a marvellous psycholgist... she works with women with various eating disorders and I will be sorting my notes...
and auditing the tapes for the next few days or longer... in between trying to decorate four trees, decorate the house, rearrange the living room, and see the neurologist and go for eegs and all that garbage...
and there is still work to be done on two almost overdue pieces of work that have to be in by the 12th of the month...
what idiot agreed to a December deadline...
and that was before I fried brain cells with high fever and all the rest of it...
at least now I would have an excuse for such a lamebrained thought...
however, as I go through all this material I shall sift out that which is useful for L and for you Rainy and for anyone else here...
eventually I hope to put it and the other interview material into something that is helpful and read-worthy and pitch it to someone who wants to publish it...but never again a December deadline LOL
kat
poster:headachequeen
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041128/msgs/421497.html