Emotional eating, you're back

I didn't get a chance to write my planned post yesterday. I didn't get a chance to write anything at all, actually. Instead, I fought the emotional eating battle again, but I sort of lost. :(

I had another rough day on the pseudo-caretaking job and when I got home in the evening, the urge to seek comfort in food was overwhelming. In retrospect, if you look at it in a detached way, it's sort of fascinating, if a bit sad.

Your reason is telling you, "Okay, I know you're actually a bit hungry, but you know that you're just looking for something to make you feel better, right? Something to distract you from the sadness and frustration you're feeling?"

But another part of you (irrational or emotional part of brain? stomach? heart?) just ignores your reason and dives headlong in the search for something to make you feel better.

A-ha! How about a bowl of frosted mini-wheats? That will do nicely!

So, you have your cereal and you think, "Well, that wasn't so bad...and I can adjust my dinner for it."  But then, some minutes pass and you're back in the kitchen because you just don't feel better, so you're back in there, looking for satisfaction.

Spoonful of peanut butter. That's pretty filling. Mmm, yummy.  Minutes pass. But, I sort of want something salty now...oh, there! Handful of croutons. That's better.

And so there you are. Sitting on the sofa, trying to relax and all the while you're regretting it all. The cereal. The peanut butter. The croutons. But most of all, you're regretting your obvious lack of willpower and your inability to find a better solution to what's really vexing you--your unhappiness and frustration.

And finally, here you are, the next day, writing about it. Why? Because you want to be have a place where you can finally be honest about the struggle and admit it all...the good, the bad, and the ugly. And maybe, you figure, if you do that, you'll eventually find the way to deal with your emotions in a healthier way and you won't have to write this sort of post ever again.

Score, this week: Emotional eating 1, Reason 0