damage control...

Perhaps eating something protein immediately afterwards may help slow the insulin spike - I'm going on the logic of Patrick Holford here and his low GL thing.

So, that would be like eating a whole 100g bar of chocolate (packet of sweets / ice cream / pick your comfort eating favourite) followed by a tin of tuna.

Better might be to eat the protein first and then the sugar.

Optimal, of course, might be to eat them together. Laughing

Gross!

Seriously, though, although I know that appetite control is key, so much of food is so often emotional. Case in point: I'm moody at the moment and although I've had my oil and now I'm full after breakfast, my feelings are an issue and there is nothing I would like more than to anaesthetise myself with lots and lots of food. I'm at that point where I understand that this is not really a craving but is just me lacking a coping mechanism to deal with how I feel.

What helps me not to just mindlessly stuff my face these days is to think about the rules I was taught before crossing the road when I was a child: Stop. Look left. Look right. Look left again. If it's clear, then cross.

As an adult, I say to myself:

Stop. Feel. Look left (physical sensations - true hunger on a scale of 1 to 10 or not?).

Look right (what am I feeling? Is there a trigger for my eating response? Can I deal with this by opening my mouth and letting something out (words! words!!) rather than putting something in?).

Look left again (check those physical symptoms of hunger again: may have decreased).

Once I've done that process, I sometimes see that there are "cars" coming (usually from the right hand side) and that it's not actually "safe" (i.e. the best thing for me) to "cross the road" to the cupboard or the fridge or whatever.

Some days I can process what's going on, some days I continue straight to the food but now I usually know why I'm eating. And (this is something I've had to get used to, perhaps the hardest part of all) I remind myself that I'm learning here and I forgive myself for my lapse and I set up a plan (visualisations with mental rehearsal) for how I would do things differently when confronted by a similar situation that triggered my "food as coping mechanism" response in the first place - another form of damage control.

This technique is not new and nor is it original, but it's starting to work for me. And it's worth remembering that 20-odd years of disordered eating is not going to be undone and unlearned in a month. Truthfully (and I can only speak for myself here, but I suspect that I'm not the only one out of the 5000 or so members of this site and sundry guests), I think that getting rid of the fat is actually the least of my concerns. I think that a large part of of my excess weight and food/eating issues (I do acknowledge the physiology of it all, as well as the learning/behavioural component) have to do with changes that I need to make to my life that will allow me to be happier, more fulfilled and more congruent with who I am on the inside.

I really recommend Martha Beck's book The 4-Day Win. It looks at the whole issue of weight and food in a (for me) sensible and holistic way, dealing with the emotional side of things as well as everything else. It has changed the way I think about weight and food much for the better.

Golly, I didn't expect this to be such a long post... If you've read all the way to the end, you deserve a reward! Just not a cupcake Laughing

Hmmm, some SW maybe?! Very Happy