The Expert Friend is moving out. This is v.sad but it's the right time for her and the next stage in her life. And ours. I can't deny I've been quite emotional about the whole thing - for all sorts of reasons - but when we all toasted the New Year, we all knew it would be a year of change!
One of the many benefits of the Expert Friend's tenure has been her constant supply of magazines. I have to be honest and say I will MISS them. A lot! It has to be said I do have an unhealthy attachment to magazines, yes, I'd really classify it as an addiction. Fortunately, financial constraints have curtailed my habit and I restrict myself to O Magazine.
Anyway, one of this month's mags, Psychologies, had a feature about emotional eating. It's written by Dr Judith Beck, author of the book, The Beck Diet Solution, which I haven't read and therefore can't recommend. However, based on my Eat, Pray, Love post, someone's bound to have read it and can give their opinion....
Here are the seven key points:
Challenge your thoughts - I loved this - "Often you'll alleviate that tension by deciding to eat. However, just as the decision to eat can reduce tension, the decision not to eat can also reduce tension."
Forget Fairness - "An important concept people have to learn is, 'I can eat what I want when I want, or I can be thinner, but I can't have it both ways'."
Always Eat Sitting Down - "Many of the dieters I counsel have said that this one rule has helped them keep weight off permanently, but you have to make this a life-long habit."
Don't Eat When You Feel Emotional - "The problem with using food as comfort is that you feel better only momentarily. As soon as you finish eating, you still have to deal with the problem that made you upset...You become self-critical, lose confidence and feel even worse." Yep, been there, done that!
Don't Fear Hunger - "They (naturally thin people) know that hunger is normal, that it's uncomfortable, that it comes and goes and that, unless it's a meal time, they shouldn't fix the problem of hunger by eating, they should get inovolved with something else." Dr Beck also recommends a hunger experiment where you don't eat for a day; once you've done a VLCD, you KNOW what real hunger is (as you go into ketosis) and you know just how much (well, how little) we eat out of real hunger!
Give Yourself Credit - "Each time you eat something you're not supposed to, you're building up your tendency to give in. And each time you refrain from eating the foods you're not supposed to, you're strengthening your self-control muscle. Each time you resist temptation, give yourself credit for your decision." There is a lot more to say about this but I like this approach. I need to find ways of rewarding my good decisions so that they become more compelling than bad ones! Hmmmm!
Change For Good - "You may think you can lose weight and then return to the way you ate before, but people who maintain a weight they are happy with do so because they've changed what they do and how they think about weight and eating. These changes are hardest at the beginning, but they get easier over time until they become automatic."
I thought these were good, simple and straightforward yet very helpful pointers.
This is really interesting and correlates a bit to what I've been thinking recently (and will post on today if I get a chance). I'll print it out I think so I can have another look.
I am a magazine junkie too! I get 7 or 8 a month. But hey, it's a non-food indulgence so I refuse to feel remotely guilty (just a bit poor!).
love
Peridot x
Posted by: Peridot | January 30, 2008 at 10:00 AM