Description without Food
It almost seems like a "wise fool". Food is so powerfully connected to feelings that it seems impossible to consider food apart from its context. For many people, the mere thought of a favorite food evokes powerful associations fusing image, taste, sensation, feeling, emotion and memory into a mixture that is near impossible to separate into its constituent parts. Indeed, this is precisely the pit into which most folks attempting to change their eating habits fall, and from which many never successfully climb out.In other words, when the boyfriend dumps you, buttered string beans and grilled fish just don't cut it. Oh how we wish it did -- that comfort and consolation, peace and calm could be found in a forkful of tofu casserole rather than a creme veggies. That at the end of a stressful day, the pint of gourmet ice cream did not sing its siren song quite so loudly. That the familiar voices in our heads ("It's not going to kill me," "I deserve it," "I can start tomorrow") were not so well miked. But they are. And if we're going to be successful in managing our weight, we need to stop waiting for them to shut up and learn how to live amidst their annoying chatter.
Living food Craver
One of the most valuable lessons for smokers ever learned came when trying to quit smoking. Like many people, many figured eventually the craving would stop, and wouldn't think about cigarettes so much, and the habit would just sort of go away by itself. Big mistake. It's been more than 10 years, and even now (very rarely, it's true) Smokers will get an urge to fill their lungs with irritating, carcinogenic, cancer-producing cigarette smoke. Don't ask me why. The important thing is that I don't do it. What smokers learned when they finally stopped smoking was that they could have the impulse to do something stupid and destructive and yet not empower it. They could notice it, watch it, experience it and let it float by, rather than being sucked into the vacuum of its pull. That's empowerment. And it doesn't necessarily come cheap.
Emotional causes of cravings
From infancy, we cry when we're hungry and stop when we're fed. We learn that the pain and discomfort of hunger can be stopped by a bottle, replaced with the warm fuzzy comfort of a full tummy and often accompanied by affection and a soothing voice. Food becomes the means by which we soothe emotional distress; the tool with which we self-medicate our anxieties and hurts, desperation and loneliness; the surrogate for human contact or the bridge with which we form connections. Food is celebration:months of festivities and holidays. Food is social: gatherings, lunches, buffets, dinners and dating. Food becomes a friend who is reliably, consistently, dependably there. No wonder dieters feel they are going mad.
Biological causes of cravings
What's more: Like a drug, the most destructive foods feed addictions. High-carbohydrate, high-sugar convenience and comfort foods produce correspondingly high blood sugar and insulin levels, which lead to even more cravings. They also produce higher levels of serotonin -- in other words, "instant Prozac." In sensitive people, particularly those who may have low serotonin levels to begin with, a carbohydrate binge is the equivalent of self-medicating. More than a few folks describe the feeling after a sugar binge as being almost "high."
So what to do?
Here are the top 10 things to ask when it seems as if nothing will do the trick besides the food we most and need the least:
- What am I really feeling?
- Can I just BE with this feeling?
- If I eat this food, or go on this binge, what is it costing me?
- What's really important to me right now?
- Is there a better way to take care of myself?
- What gift can I give myself right now that won't cost me my power?
- How can I nurture myself right now without hurting myself?
- If I were a child right now, how would I like to be comforted?
- What could I do right now that would make me feel good tomorrow?
And finally, and perhaps most important of all ...
If eating this comfort food, can one savor it, enjoy it, relish it and then let it go -- without beating oneself up and without giving up on their commitment? Ans : yes
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