Bill Phillip's | Transformation

Day 30 - Using Food As Medicine

One of my weaknesses is I tend to use food as an emotional crutch.  In the past, when I'm under a lot of stress or if I'm nervous about something, I tend to try and relax myself by eating...and I wasn't eating celery sticks and an apple; it was more likely ice cream and potato chips...or a Double Bacon Cheeseburger with fries.

The really bad thing about this kind of eating, is that it worked for me...at least temporarily.  Eating something tasty would bring me a lot of immediate happiness.  Of course, after I was done eating, whtever the cause of my stress...the problem...was still there; staring me in the face. 

This wasn't a big problem for me until my life became very stressful, all the time.  As you would expect, as my stress level went up...so did my therapeutic eating.  Pretty soon, I was a big tub of lard and I was very ashamed of my body...which caused further stress...and so I turned to even more food...which made me even fatter...and brought on more stress....so I ate even more.....and the cycle spiraled my life downward.

I became trapped in a cycle of emotional eating.  And while I've never been a drug addict or an alcholic, I imagine there are a lot of similarties betwee an addictive emotional binge eater and a drug addict who needs a fix every 4 - 6 hours.

One of the great things about this transformation is that it really forces you to stop that kind of eating and deal with your problems head on.  I have specific meal times and specific things I eat...so when my stress level goes up, I can't just stop and rip open a bag of M & M's.  I have to find a better way to deal with my stress.  I'm still working on this...but I have founf excersise to be a great stress reducer!

I hope you are having a great day and your stress level is lwo.

God Bless!