Food and Emotions
I wanted to take my next post here and write about something that has been pretty relevant in my journey to get healthier in the present. Emotions and food do not seem like two things that really go together but the truth is, they are both affected by the other. I recently really took the time to think about how my emotions are affected by my eating habits, but also how my emotions affect my eating habits. I wanted to write a post about it to hopefully help someone else come to the same realization and just share my thoughts on it.
You had a bad day at work so you stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some ice cream. Think about how often that probably happens. I know some people are not emotional eaters, but many are. I am probably one of the worst cases. You think you made it through such a stressful horrible day that you deserve a reward. Or I know pretty much everyone eats pizza and chocolate (or something along those lines) when they are going through a breakup. See how much and how easy it is to let our emotions lead us to bad choices in our diets?
As I have mentioned many times, I am currently looking for a job and still avidly applying and interviewing for positions. I am doing my best to stay positive but there are days I get extremely frustrated, discouraged, and mad about being in this current situation. Quite honestly I have been eating horribly up until this week. Now part of that truthfully is because I am on such a tight budget since I have such a small income now that I haven’t been spending too much on healthy food because let’s face it, eating healthy isn’t always the most affordable thing to do. So I really have been just eating what is already in the house and that really hasn’t been too healthy. I also haven’t been making the best choices because of being upset about my current situation… see what I am getting at here?
On the other hand, I personally have noticed that eating poorly has also had an impact on my emotions. I just haven’t completely been my positive happy self. I by no means mean I have been sulking around or laying in bed all day depressed, but I do notice a difference in myself when I am making poor choices in my diet. It honestly is a vicious cycle. Once I start eating not so great food I almost set myself up to do it again.
All of this is, of course, just how I have noticed emotions and food affecting each other in my personal life. I by no means and saying that everyone is like this. But I figured I would share my observations since I am noticing these changes in my emotions and food choices recently. Now, I don’t think it is necessarily a horrible thing to treat yourself to one of your guilty pleasure foods if you have had a bad day, however, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, You Had a Bad Day, it should be something done sparingly. If you are going through a breakup or something, sure have a day where you sulk and eat pizza, but pick yourself up the next day and don’t allow yourself to be sucked into the cycle like I have lately.
This year has been probably one of the most stressful I can remember in a long time for me. That is no excuse for not making progress and getting healthier, although I have allowed that to happen. To me though, it was a lesson that life does not always go according to plan. You never anticipate being told you are losing your job. You never anticipate a sudden death in the family. Life throws us curveballs and we need to do what we can to roll with the punches. I have learned to take each day at a time. I will not beat myself up over a lack of progress, but I will take a note to work on letting food and emotions intertwine in my life. My biggest piece of advice is to try and observe if emotions and food intertwine in your life, and do what you can to help yourself overcome it.
On a side note: I already have my next recipe planned out and bought all the ingredients. I will probably make this a double post week! :-)
On a side note: I already have my next recipe planned out and bought all the ingredients. I will probably make this a double post week! :-)
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