I don't know about you, but stress is one of those things that makes me want to eat. This afternoon, I was thinking too much, and as my anxiety grew, so did my urge to eat. Before I knew it, I had half a bagel in my hand, nearly eaten. (I chose a multi-grain bagel, that should count for something, right?) Once I became aware, I didn't continue to eat. Thinking about Brene Brown's video about vulnerability...I was trying to numb that vulnerability, and it was a nearly unconscious behavior. That is going to be the toughest for me to overcome.
I went out to lunch with a friend today. I am becoming very conscious of my choices when I eat out....a step in the right direction!
1 comment:
I have the same problem with stress. It may seem like you are using food to make yourself feel better but what's happening is when you get stressed, your prefrontal cortex becomes less active (or inactive altogether). Your prefrontal cortex is used for more complex thinking and it's also the part of our brain that makes us choose to act responsibly (to keep things clean and organized, to eat salad or fish instead of pizza or a burger, etc.). So without that influence from the responsible part of your brain, you will tend to make poor decisions and especially in areas that you struggle with. The decisions aren't necessarily poor by all measures, since what is going on is that your body is going into survival mode (I don't think cavemen became stressed over issues that did not impact their ability to survive) but, particularly in dieting, our survival instincts directly oppose our conscious goals.
Maybe knowing can help you catch it, but it is very hard to consciously overcome our nature.
-Dylan
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