Confusion About Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating is a very misunderstood term and everyone and absolutely everyone is jumping on the band wagon. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dr. Phil jumping on too. And absolutely no one understands it. Yet, everyone has advice which is recycled fad diet era advice.

This is what I mean. Emotion is a result of how a particular stressor is perceived. This being said, all programs add 2 + 2 and think the answer is 5. Because the emotional eater eats when an emotion is present, they focus you back on to dealing with the stressor. Obvious right? Way wrong.

The stressor isn't the real stressor--it's the emotion resultant from the stress that is the stressor.

Everyday I read post and article after article and post and they all have the same lame advice--exercise more, call a friend, meditate, eat cabbage instead of chocolate (made that one up) but you get the idea.

Finally I read an article that makes sense and it's backed by research. In the study they worked with individuals suffering from amnesia. The invoked a stressor that elicited an emotional response. Guess what the amnesia sufferers remembered?

They totally forgot what the stressor was but remembered the feeling of the emotion.

Let me repeat, they remembered the emotion but forgot what the stress was. To read about the study, click here.

Now this only becomes more pronounced for someone with normal memory. They not only remember the emotion, but also the injustice or aggravation that lead up to the emotion which becomes a vicious circle of creating more and more of the same emotion which they have no idea as to how to handle. But no problem. They are so caught up in the injustice or event that they never focus on the emotion and just eat and eat to dilute it.

Of course this is also true for situations and events leading to happiness as the primary emotion.

Sure the stress always passes and is forgotten but until the individual becomes "flat" with the emotion it lingers and lingers and is generalized to other events leading to more and more binging and emotional eating.

Prescription for Emotional Eating--Mother's Day

A prescription for emotional eating:

Being around mother can certainly stir up some emotion--all kinds of emotions. If you've had a great relationship with your mother, there's joy, happiness, a feeling of well being.

If on the other hand your mother has been a critic, then there's defensiveness, annoyance, confusion--maybe some anger.

In either situation--it's a prescription for emotional eating. The mind is focused on the emotion and the mouth is engaged diluting them. But the problem is that the mind is not really recognizing the emotion. You're not saying to yourself, "I'm happy being around my mother, " or, "I'm feeling defensive being around my mother."

No, you're into the joy and aggravation and the mouth is engaged. After all, what else is there to do?

Why is this so?
Have you ever driven to work and when you got there, you didn't remember the streets you passed, or the lights you went through, or the land-marks you passed? Of course, it happens to all of us. Emotions are like this, we're so accustomed to them that we don't even recognize that we're having them.

The first step is to be aware of the emotion/s. I'm feeling (whatever the emotion).
Then, how do you feel about this emotion? Some emotions you like and some you don't.
The goal is to get beyond any beliefs you have about the emotion and "take it straight."

"I feel happy and I like feeling happy and I'd like to forget about food and take the happiness straight."

or

"I feel defensive or angry and I hate these feelings because (what ever the reason). I prefer to take these feelings straight, effectively express myself and leave food out of the situation.

I have two great programs for dealing with criticism and expressing yourself. Criticism is a game--those who criticize only tell you more about themselves than they do about you.
Effective communication, though, is something most of us could use some help with.

But if for some reason, you see a lot of red (anger) and have trouble dealing with it, then learn how to benefit from anger.

Feel the emotion, take them straight and forget about food--that's what can happen.


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The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more--you can even get it for free.

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Emotional Eating Tip?

Go to your library and read about emotional eating? That's a tip given in an article about emotional eating. The article is titled Control Binge Eating - Start Getting Control Over Your Life

Other tips are to discipline yourself, choose healthier foods, be aware of the thoughts you have before you eat, and drink two glasses of water and eat a huge salad instead of the comfort foods.

No mention of dealing with the emotions--simply recycled old hat advice.
It's the inability to recognize the emotions and deal with the stress of the emotions that leads to binging. And yes, binging is emotional eating.



Do you know why 95% of all diets and weight loss programs fail? Click here for a free report.
The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more,



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How to Deal with Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating is best dealt with by dealing with the emotions. We can talk all day about where the habit of overeating in response to different emotions has come from as another article I found. While quite interesting, none of these articles go into the actual stress of the resultant emotions from various stressors. They never talk about how to actually deal with the emotions--how to embrace the emotion and leave food out of it.

We may have a lot of experts about stress, but we don't have many experts who know how to deal with the stress of all the different emotions such as happiness, frustration, boredom, confusion and so on.

One other point. One of recent post was about using a glutathione accelerator to relieve physical discomforts that stand in the way of focusing on the stress of emotions. Turns out that glutathione is also important in shedding weight. Without sufficient glutathione losing weight becomes nearly impossible.


Do you know why 95% of all diets and weight loss programs fail? Click here for a free report.
The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more--you can even get it for free.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Swollen painful joints keep you from losing weight?

Do swollen painful joints keep you from focusing on your weight loss goals?

A couple years ago I started with a swollen painful knee that made me feel like it was time to start looking for a wheel chair. It was certainly difficult focusing on managing my food intake with all the discomfort.

I tried glucosamine, boosting my vitamin C to 8,000 mg per day, and expensive enzymes with no relief. I actually found that cat's claw that I was taking for Lyme disease made my knee worse.

I went to my doctor and she had no idea what was causing it--thought for some reason that I might be pre diabetic and ordered the three hour glucose tolerance test.

Before I got around to subjecting myself to that test someone sent me a cd about a new supplement--a glutathione accelerator. I listened to the cd, never even thought it might benefit my knee, but being a sucker for something new that made sense I accepted a free two week trial of the supplement in exchange for being enrolled in the company's preferred customer auto ship program.

Initially I didn't notice much of any change whatsoever and figured when my first month was about to expire I'd call the company and get refunded my money.

But then I noticed my knee feeling normal again. It was and is like I have a new lease on life.
That was nearly three months ago and since then the glucosamine, supplemental vitamin C, and expensive enzymes have become history saving me $150 per month. I'm also about to kick out the Super Beta Prostate supplement as glutathione reduces swelling not only in knees and other joints but also in every cell including those in the prostate--that's another $35/month. By the way, the glutathione accelerator (Max GXL) is only $65.00/mo plus shipping.

Email me at knic at comcast.net with glutathione in the subject line (don't worry about how it's spelled) and I'll send your the same cd re glutathione to see for yourself.

Suddenly it was a lot easier to stop eating because of discomfort and pain. But then the joy and happiness set in and it became a challenge to deal with emotionally eating joy and happiness.

It was easier to deal with those emotions as I am now 19 pounds closer to my goal with only 6 pounds to go--according to the stupid scale. And of course I say "stupid scale" because many times I thought I had dropped pounds only to find that I remained the same.

That's why my book is called The Scale Conspiracy because if I didn't know better I'd think that the scale is sometimes conspiring against me.

It is the best and most entertaining self help book written since Wayne Dywer's Erroneous Zones.


Do you know why 95% of all diets and weight loss programs fail? Click here for a free report.
The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more--you can even get it for free.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Losing Weight

Losing weight--it's been about a year since I was in that mode. And yes it's a different mode for me than staying with constant weight.

In my last post I wrote about dealing with the sensation of hunger. Yes it's a reality and probably the biggest reason why many people don't get serious about losing weight. But let's face it--it's a reality. You can either be afraid of it and stay heavier than you want to be or you can learn to get comfortable with it.

Me, I'd rather get comfortable with the sensation. Of course it's helpful for me to understand why the sensation is there. It is not "hunger" as I was led to believe as a youngster. In fact it could take as long as six weeks of complete absence of food before I'd be experiencing "hunger." Don't believe me, ask anyone who has been on a diet for longer than a couple days and they will tell you that there is no longer any feeling--not that I'm recommending fasting. But then there's nothing wrong with fasting for a couple days like over a week-end. Many say it's great because it gives the liver a break so it can detoxify.

Back to the feeling, what is it? When you consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain it's body weight, your liver has to change its way of operating and get calories from stored fat cells. But rather than simply doing this, the liver creates a sensation that mislabled as hunger. I use an analogy of a squirrel storing away his nuts for winter and then when winter comes the squirrel has to take them out of storage, but before your liver (the squirrel) changes its way of operating, he questions you with this sensation--after all he can't speak.

So it's your liver's way of asking, "Do you know what you are doing? You've had me storing these calories away for years and now I have to go to the storage unit and take them out. Are you sure this is what you want me to do? Are you sane?"

It's my job to recognize this and say to myself, "yes, this is what I want--totally what I want." And as a result of it get excited about feeling that sensation because there's only one thing that's happening and that is those fat cells are being used.

Now as my blood sugar changes over from calorie supplied blood sugar to fat supplied blood sugar I might experience some nervousness for a few moments. So it might be helpful to avoid challenging my brain with a lot of thinking chores and instead take a break from doing stressful chores for a half hour or so.

The amazing thing is that I can get comfortable feeling the sensation and then much to my amazement it disappears. And this gets easier everyday. I'm down 5 pounds this week and have another ten to go.

What does this have to do with emotional eating? Not much. This is all about a shift in my attitude. Emotions come into place and tempt me to satisfy my squirrel and it's my job to take them straight.

Do you know why 95% of all diets and weight loss programs fail? Click here for a free report.
The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Gaining Weight

Just got back from a week in Las Vegas--had a great time. There's lots to do there and lots of food too. In fact too much food. I ate my trip and gained back 5 of the 15 pounds I had lost ten months ago.
Well, I had ten more pounds I wanted to get rid of anyway so what better than to use these 5 pounds as motivation to get rid of them plus the additional 10 pounds that I've been putting off.

Getting in the grove is a challenge to lose weight. For me its about a commitment to feel the hungry sensation for a good part of the day. Of course there are the emotions of life that cry for soothing, but it's to convert that feeling that feels like hunger into a sensation that I'm happy to feel. For only then do I know that my body is using up excess pounds and converting them to blood sugar.

What interesting is that I still have my desert--only about a third of what I usually would eat. So putting the two together is the key for success for me, i.e. looking forward to that sensation and taking whatever emotion life throws at me straight.

The amazing thing is that when I get comfortable and look forward to that sensation, I forget it's there. and then when I do eat, I eat sparingly and properly, i.e. sitting down and relaxed.

Do you know why diets fail and why those who lose weight 95% gain it back? Click here to find out why.

The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) for emotional eating is only $14.95. Click here to learn more.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Negative Calories Help Lose Weight

Found an interesting article--see below. It has nothing to do with emotional eating except that 90% of those who write about emotional eating suggest eating celery when you feel hungry. Thought you might like to know why in case you already didn't know. Unfortunately his website is no longer active. I googled "negative calorie foods" and then found a site that claims that there is truly no negative calorie food except for perhaps cardboard which can't be digested properly. However, foods that are claimed to be negative calorie foods are:

asparagus, beet, broccoli, green cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery root, celery, chicory, hot chili peppers, cucumber, dandelion, endive, garden cress, garlic, green beans, zucchini, apple, cranberries, grapefruit, lemon, mango, orange, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, tangerine,
lamb's lettuce, lettuce, onion, papaya, radishes, spinach, turnip.

I can understand the vegetables as being negative calorie foods, but most of the fruits?

Here's the article.

The Thermic Effect of Food & Negative Calories

The concept behind the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) and the idea that it is possible to eat Negative Calorie Foods is the fact that eating any food causes your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to increase because you use energy to eat, digest, and metabolize the food you�ve just eaten. The rise occurs soon after you start eating and peaks two to three hours later. This rise in the BMR can range from between 2-3 per cent, up to 25-30 per cent, depending on the size of the meal and the types offoods eaten. The idea of Negative Calorie Foods is based on the belief that there are certain foods, which use more calories to digest than the amount of calories actually contained in the food! Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to use. In other words, the body has to work hard in order to extract calories from these foods. Even though different foods may contain equal amounts of calories, in Negative Calorie Foods much less of these calories turn into fat, as fewer calories are actually available to the body. This allegedly gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage.

The Theory of How it Works

There are six essential nutrients that the human body requires to keep it nourished and healthy; these include; protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Foods have a macronutrient (carbohydrate, fat, and protein), caloric (calories) and vitamin & mineral content. Vitamins stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that breakdown the caloric nutrients of that food. It is generally accepted that the various categories of macronutrients that are present in the diet will increase BMR by different amounts as shown below:

� Fats - raise the BMR 4 per cent

� Carbohydrates - raise BMR 6 per cent

� Proteins - raise BMR 30 per cent

(It is suggested that hot spicy foods can also have a significant thermic effect: for example foods containing chilli, horseradish and mustard). The overall �Thermic Effect of Food� is considered to utilize roughly 10% of the total calories of food ingested in the �average� diet. However, Negative Calorie Foods are supposed to contain enough vitamins & minerals to produce enzymes in quantities sufficient to break down not only its own calories, but additional calories present in digestion as well. This is the �secret� of The Negative Calorie Foods and the reasoning behind why Negative Calorie Foods may be regarded as �Fat burning Foods� (The Negative Calorie Foods will tend to have maximum benefits when eaten without any �empty calorie foods� i.e. junk foods).

There is much disagreement about the negative calorie diet and some experts are unconvinced about the claims made. Some believe the amount of energy used may be relative to the amount and complexity of the meal ingested. In other words the energy used to digest and absorb may be set as a general percentage of the energy contained in each specific food, thus there cannot ever befoods with negative calories. However, some research has proved that celery does cause a negative energy intake but this is mainly because the energy is "sealed" making the digestive system work harder to obtain its energy content.

It is unclear therefore as to whether negative calorie foods are fact or fiction. There needs to be more research done in order to prove or disprove the theory. Although it seems reasonable to believe that if negative calorie foods help people consume fewer calories AND eat healthier foods, then including lots of these foods as part of an overall balanced diet, can be a positive start to permanent weight loss!

Please visit http://www.ultimatehealthynutrition.com for more free articles, ideas, and products on how to eat healthy, be healthy, and feel better for life. Remember, nothing tastes as good as fit and trim feels!

Reprint Guidelines
(c) 2007, Howard Jaros, Clinical & Sports Nutritionist. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line at the end of my ezine.

You can purchase the, The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) emotional eating now for only $14.95. It's of unlimited value.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Motivational thoughts for the New Year

Motivational thoughts for the New Year--Stress Management for the new decade to Stop Emotional Eating.

It seems that every year is met with the same disappointment for the past year and then hope for the new year for those who want to lose weight. The disappointment for the past year seems to be directly proportional to the amount of uncertainties experienced in the previous year.

And those uncertainties are generally proportional to the financial and personal losses suffered during the previous year.

Yet, if we can live in the moment, the financial and personal losses don't impact our attitudes and we can win at emotional eating and overeating.

It's like the study psychologists did with two ten year old boys. One boy came from a well-to-do background and the other ten year old was from a poverty background. The psychologist put the boy from a well-to-do background in a room full of the most advanced toys and the boy from a poverty background in a room full of broken toys. They left the boys alone for a half hour after which they found the boy from a well-to-do background sitting in a chair kind of disappointed. They asked him why he was disappointed, and he replied, "I already have all these toys, I thought you'd have something new and neat."

They found the boy from a poverty background excitedly going through the broken toys and were surprised. They asked him why he was so excited and he replied, "With all this crap around here, there has to be something good someplace and I'm going to find it."

This is truly a model for any stress management training exercise. You add this to the basic stress management techniques such as deep breathing, muscle awareness, exercise, and so on.

I like to remember that story and often wish I could be more effective myself in adopting that attitude on a day-to-day basis. It truly is the challenge and if each of us could do it, we'd be much healthier and happier. Of course you might think it's impracticable, but I suggest that that is merely your limiting beliefs forming that attitude.

We start off each new year with hope and promise that somehow gets side tracked a few months later because we are deficient in motivational thoughts.

Ultimately the answer is in creating a shift in our attitudes so that in the midst of "crap" or disappointment, we can we can be excited about finding something good.

From a stress management training basis, there are two basic things that stand in the way of our doing this:

1. Our self limiting beliefs such as not deserving or our inability to do something.
2. Lack of using affirmations or tools to develop prosperity consciousness. Being in prosperity doesn't mean that disappointments don't happen, it's that instead of being drowned by disappointment that instead we capitalize on them.

What about the stress of dealing with uncertainty? Answer: As you acknowledge it and choose to embrace it you use your affirmations to navigate through uncertainty. The end result is that instead of being glad to get rid of last year, you're pleased and happy with last year. Sure you look forward to the new year--but it's with the same excitement that you looked forward to in each of the last 52 weeks.

To empower your motivational thoughts there are two tapes/cd's for self help programs--The Magic of Affirmations and Prosperity that can make a huge difference in your life.

Of course famous resolutions for the new year are to lose weight and stop smoking or some other hurtful habit. Instead of doing it with hope of something like medications or shakes/gum doing it for you, look to affirmations--not that you won't also use the shakes or gum.

A New Years' resolution that can't lead you astray is to use affirmations--motivational thoughts--every day--they reprogram your intelligence and vibrate with source to provide prosperity and health--the best sort of stress management training so each new year brings you the best of the year possible.

My book will get you a head start on building a healthy attitude for conquering emotional eating to lose weight. I can promise you that it's the best book you will find on the subject or your money back. Instead of having a dozen questions when you've finished it, you'll have dozens of answers and be on the way to dropping lots of pounds. It's a cure for emotional binge eating and it teaches you how to identify emotions, embrace them and feel them?

You can purchase the, The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) emotional eating now for only $14.95. It's of unlimited value.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate

Does your GPS Call You a Stupid Ass?

Then why should you?

I was thinking today, as I was using my Tom Tom GPS unit to find a new destination, that I was lucky. Lucky that the Tom Tom doesn't say things like "You stupid ass, you're going in the wrong direction."

But isn't this how many who are overweight talk to themselves? Instead my Tom Tom says, "Turn around when possible," or "Recalibrating." Tom Tom simply doesn't know how to do "put downs" and wouldn't we all be better off is we stopped or forgot how to do "put-downs" whether to ourselves or others.

Can you imagine how you would feel if your GPS system said, "You stupid ass, I told you a mile ago to turn right and no, you just turned left. You're lost and I'm not going to help you! You deserve to be late getting there. "

Self respect is a big part of losing weight (getting where you want to go) with regard to emotional eating and weight loss. How can you lose weight if you treat yourself like a bratty three year old?

My book will get you a head start on becoming your own best friend for conquering emotional eating to lose weight. I can promise you that it's the best book you will find on the subject or your money back. Instead of having a dozen questions when you've finished it, you'll have dozens of answers and be on the way to dropping lots of pounds. It's a cure for emotional binge eating and it teaches you how to identify emotions, embrace them and feel them?

You can purchase the, The Scale Conspiracy, (in e-book form) emotional eating now for only $14.95. It's of unlimited value.

Online store for motivational thoughts:  Self Help, Self Hypnosis, Stress Management Training, Subliminal tapes for self improvement

, Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia using Wakened Hypnosis. New technique resulted in documented 80% success rate