Dealing with Stress Eating

Congratulations we made it through another Humpday! In attempt to decrease the soreness from Alpha last night (Tuesday) I started the day off with a 25 minute Good Morning Yoga Flow (yogadownload.com). Got to love free right?

It felt so good afterwards but boy was it a struggle to get out of bed and do it. Whenever I have Yoga scheduled I ALWAYS think to myself “oh its just a quick 20 to 30 minutes I can do that anytime.” Then I procrastinate procrastinate procrastinate or life gets in the way and I don’t end up doing it. This is exactly why I usually work out in the morning, but for some reason I’m just not as dedicated when it comes to Yoga. Today I was motivated by the thought of how sore I usually am the day after Alpha, anything to decrease that is motivating enough. Then of course we had some green juice.

Two apples today because we need to keep the doctor away, and they were teeny tiny. For breakfast I used the Salmon I reluctantly reserved from last night’s dinner and made an egg scramble with one egg, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1 green onion, 1 large handful of spinach, and a slice of goat cheese.

I was out the door and on the way to work a couple hours later with a banana and a coffee mug full of dark chocolate truffle coffee.

Banana looks gross but keep it in the crisper, the outside gets dark and the inside stays firm and delicious.

We had a goodbye lunch at Paradise Bakery for one of the girls leaving, even though I’m new I had a good time getting to know everyone a little bit better! I went for a half of Turkey Wheatberry Salad (no cheese) and a cup of the Autumn Squash Soup.

I have to say the soup was AMAZING, it was salty and sweet (I don’t dare look up the sodium content) and delicious in every way. I kind of wish I just had a bowl of that for lunch because it was THAT good.

By the time I got home after running more errands, this time involving the dry cleaners I was pretty sore. Like the kind of sore that requires extra effort and attention when getting in/out of the car and going up stairs. I hit the foam roller immediately when I got home, that may have been one of the most unpleasant experiences ever but it definitely helped. While dinner was baking I snacked on chicken salad. Dinner was a tortilla crusted quiche with fillings of breakfast chicken sausage, green onions, lots of broccoli and laughing cow cheese packets, it came out pretty delicious. I was pretty hungry so I barely paid attention to the photo I snapped before I started eating.

How I Deal with Stress Eating

After dinner we discussed finances before Paul headed out to get his haircut. Then I dealt with some stupid health insurance claims which should be taken care of already but aren’t. Between that and the fact that we are getting married in 10 days so things are pretty tight around these parts. After he left I spent the last little while trying to avoid eating a whole bag of dark chocolate chips and sticking my fingers into any nut butter jar I could find… sun butter, almond butter, peanut butter it didn’t matter. Very rarely am I the person that eats less when stressed, instead I’m usually the eat everything in site type person. Any college roommate I’ve had can attest to that. When I find myself clearly stress eating I have a couple of tactics which help me rein myself in.

1. I acknowledge that I’m stress eating. Grab the bull by its horns and call it what it is. Out loud if I have to “I am stressed out about finances and I feel sorry for myself so I’m trying to make myself feel better by giving myself a treat.”

2. I try to squash the craving with a “healthy” treat. Some of my favorites are dates, frozen grapes or bananas, or small pieces of dark chocolate.

3. I distract myself. Blogging or TV are my ultimate ways of distraction.

Distractions that DON’T work for me: calling a friend (I eat while on the phone), going for a walk (I eat when I get back), or playing with Missy (only momentary).

4. I give in, at least a little bit. If it’s between constantly returning to the bag for one chocolate chip at a time or tiny taste of nut butter or just eating a small handful or spoonful then I make the call to go for the handful/spoonful. If I give in an acceptable amount then I’m not going back and back and back for more “tastes” which can add up to be worse over time.

Time for bed, I have an early morning breakfast to attend and a long day ahead!