Overcoming Secretive Eating

Finally - you are alone. No one else is around. Maybe you've waited until they are all soundly asleep. You find yourself in the kitchen sneaking food. Sometimes it's cake, sometimes it's ice cream. Other times you're standing in front of the refrigerator eating leftovers without a plate. Once in a while, you plan ahead, stocking up on your favorite goodies on the drive home.

Almost in a trance-like state, you begin eating the foods you don't want anyone to know you eat... in volumes you don't want anyone to know you want. You eat quickly, not wanting to get caught. The irony is that you're not really enjoying the food, you're not really hungry, and you don't know why you are doing it. Initially there is a sense of freedom, exhilaration, and relief. But something odd also occurs. When eating becomes secretive, it becomes both more exciting and more difficult to give up. A devastating cycle begins. The lure of sneak eating progresses, but so does the sense of guilt and failure. Of course, this leads to more sneak eating and on it goes. It becomes a overwhelming cycle that generates a life of it's own.

EMOTIONAL NEEDS
Sneak eating is a metaphor for real needs. These are needs that are typically not addressed. We think we shouldn't have them. Or we don't know how to deal with them. It's usually a time we can be alone, with all our wants and desires. It is a time we don't have to pretend to be capable, competent, pleasant, likeable, strong, and without needs. It is a time to be entirely self-centered, where you don't have to take care of the needs of anyone else and can focus completely on yourself.

Sneak eating is about hunger. Hunger that develops because of the deprivation of strict diets, restrictive food plans, and the list of "bad" foods that you "shouldn't" be eating. Sneak eating is also a substitute for emotional comfort. A way to nurture the unaddressed feelings of shame, guilt, low self-esteem and loneliness. These feelings may be with you most of the day. It is only when the pace slows down, that the emotions begin to emerge. Not knowing how to handle these powerful emotions, eating follows. Eating in isolation can be a way of stuffing down emotions that seem overwhelming. Eating alone can provide down time without the interruption of family, work, or other responsibilities.

THE 10 MOST POWERFUL FEELINGS YOU EAT TO KILL

1. Hurt

2. Guilt

3. Anger

4. Shame

5. Lonely

6. Anxiety

7. Self-hate

8. Disappointment

9. Emptiness

10. Deprivation

These feelings are normal for every human being. We each need to take the time, and learn the skills, to sit with our emotions. Recognize that it is essential to know what is going on within our bodies. Know that you are important enough to take the time to be still and be with who we really are. Every person has wants, needs, and desires. We need time to focus solely on ourselves and satisfy our needs. Many of us were taught that these things were selfish and unimportant. We learned to disconnect and hide, lie and make excuses about our needs. We pretend we don't need or want pleasure. We substitute food for what we really needed in life. We end up with a love/hate relationship with food. We try to force ourselves not to eat, especially not to sneak eat. And we punish and criticize ourselves for not being able to stop.

Recognize that sneak eating is not about your having shameful desires that cannot be controlled. Instead, sneak eating indicates that you have healthy, natural, human longings that you were not taught how to address.

QUESTIONS
There are a variety of things you can do to help build-up your willpower and let go of the need to sneak eat. Discover what motivates your behavior by asking yourself a few questions as each incident occurs.

* Where are you when you sneak eat?

* What were you thinking about right before you ate it?

* What were you feeling before you began eating?

* What need is this food filling (or stuffing) in your life?

* What else, other than food, would fill the wants and desires that you have?

* What is it that you really need?

Answering these questions and keeping a journal of your answers for future reference will help you understand what prompts your behavior. Your journal entries will serve as a starting place towards noting ideas. These ideas will help you work towards solutions once you are able to more readily recognize your pattern.

Dr. Annette Colby, RD
Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Healer
For free inspirational newsletter, articles & info visit: http://www.LovingMiracles.com
972.985.8750
"Opening Creative Portals to Success"

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Breakfast -How Not To Start The Day Part II

The Order of Energy UtilizationBack to our table of stored... Read More

Eating Habits That Can Help You Lose Weight And Stay That Way

There are certain eating habits that can make you gain... Read More

Break Your Weight Loss Plateau

How to Break Your PlateauToday is a typical morning like... Read More

The Diet Debate Ended

Which diet is the best? ALL of them and NONE... Read More

Why Most Diets Dont Work

Ever thought of, known someone, or gone on a diet?... Read More

Obesity and Weight Loss ? Muscle and the Importance of Low Body Fat!

Today you have a good chance of getting diabetes or... Read More

An Incredible New Weight Loss Product ? Your Brain!

I would like to introduce you to an incredible new... Read More

Spot Reducing is For The Laundry

· Can you give me an exercise that will get... Read More

Fat Is A Self-Inflicted Disease

I just came back from three days in Las Vegas.... Read More

The True Weight Loss Approach ? Five Step Common Sense Plan!

Some of you will not like what I have to... Read More

The Diet Dilemma. Why Diets Dont Work

Let's face when it comes to overweight and obesity there... Read More

Gastric Bypass Patients Resent Normal Eaters

In the early weeks after having weight loss surgery almost... Read More

Dieting Tips For Fast Weight Loss - How To Jump-start Your Diet

Do you want to lose weight fast? While there is... Read More

Forget All About That Calorie Counting Crap And Learn How To Lose Some Weight!

That's a pretty "in your face" statement, but really it's... Read More

Mediterranean Diet - Lose Weight Quickly, Easily & Safely

If you are looking for a way to lose fifty... Read More

Low Salt Diet Tips for Kids and Adults

Our bodies only require a small amount of salt for... Read More

Weight Loss and Dieting Secret #1 ? IN and OUT

Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of... Read More

Gastric Bypass Surgery ? What Happens Afterwards?

After patients have had gastric bypass surgery comes a very... Read More

Cycle Your Way To Weight Loss

Of all the possible exercises there are to help you... Read More

Welcome to the Middle Aged Diet

You are not a kid any more and becoming a... Read More

New Hope for Attaining--and Maintaining--A Healthy Body Weight

The percentage of Americans who are overweight and obese is... Read More

Weight Loss for Life ? How to Overcome Speed Bumps!

Yesterday evening my computer hard drive crashed. Resulting in the... Read More

A Simple Plan for Weight Loss that Really Works

One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose... Read More

How to Select the Best Diet for You?

In the old West tricksters sold a snake oil to... Read More

Weight Loss in Children

What is "too young" to begin a weight loss program... Read More

Learning How to Become a Good Loser

The Quest to Reach Your Ideal WeightIt was late in... Read More

Five Serious Dangers of Low Carbohydrate Diets

CancerCoronary heart diseaseStrokeOsteoporosisMajor Depression from Brain StarvationHeadlines.WASHINGTON, Jun 22, 2004... Read More

Weight Loss: N Y Millionaire Weight Loss ?Secret? Revealed

It is a fact that about 70% Americans are overweight.... Read More

Serious Dieting Tips, Humorous Explanations

A few months ago, I set out to lose 22.6... Read More

Could False Memories Be An Efficient Diet Helper?

Speculating on the scientifically proven memory unreliability, the memory specialist... Read More

College Weight Gain

Students today are faced with the serious reality of unwanted... Read More

Is Your Goal Really Weight Loss?

Are you ashamed of your weight? Do you have a... Read More

Top 10 Points of Encouragement for Weight Loss

On the road to weight loss, fitness, and health,... Read More