We can live without compulsive eating...

I am so emotional and impulsive and compulsive!!!  What can I say, I'm Italian.  I am not that way in most areas of my life.  I start with a dream and slowly make my way to getting what I want.  I usually don't rush into anything.  I guess in a way, food has been a tranquilizer for me when something upsets me, saddens me, makes me happy, when I have a fear of the unknown and every other reason known to man.

After Jan 1. I decided to get my butt in gear once again.  This time it feels somewhat different.  I have totally given up sugar and most grains and other concentrated carbs 95% of the time.  It has removed much of the urgency to eat, eat, eat! 

I am changing my relationship with food.  Instead of it ruling me, I have decided I am going to rule it.  I am putting my strengths to work.  I have a lot of time now that I am retired so I have decided that I don't have any more excuses to just blindly eat whatever my emotional self yells at me to eat.

I still think about food a lot.  But I am thinking about it as a way to give me back what I have been trying to throw away most of my life.  I spend time shopping, looking at all of the labels.  I read the latest research on diet.  I put a lot of time into making my food taste fabulous without it being loaded with crap of any kind.  I choose intense flavors and use less of them, I try to get as much flavor and satisfaction possible out of every meal.  I know I am not going to settle for plain mundane food, so this is what I have to do.  It is what works for me. 

I know I can't rush things or get impatient.  Impatience is my enemy.  It makes me do stupid things.  I am learning to put off instant gratification for the long term good.  Plus I am damned angry about how food has become such a fat trap and artificial mess.  I don't want the food industry dictating my health anymore.

I am also trying to be more active.  I am now and will participate in things that I enjoy.  It will be part of the plan.  I am such a loner that I don't like exercising with other people, I don't even like walking with my husband.  I like to think and dream and just enjoy the surroundings without any distractions.  Later today, I am going to my community center which does have free classes and use of exercise equipment for about 20.00 a year.  I let my membership expire and I am going to renew today.  Even though I hate gyms and exercise classes, I am not ruling them out.  They are going to be a part of my choices.  I am going to make myself make choices everyday.

Good health is such a beautiful thing and I no longer want to ignore that for ice cream or pizza or bread and butter.

Thank you for posting this.  It helps to write all of this out to reinforce my vision for my future.

Happy, thank you for sharing your lightbulb moment. It's a great one. Since for some of us there are a lot of emotions tied to eating, I thank you for the words of wisdom to discriminate between logical thoughts and emotions. God bless. Hope you have a wonderful day.

As usual we are on the same wave length. I have learned to separate my feelings from my thoughts.  I can work on my core beliefs and attitudes to change the way I think, but I can't control the way that I feel.  I find that I need to simply notice my emotions and not ruminate on them.  They are what they are at the moment, and if I just wait for a little while, the emotions will change again.  My thoughts on the other hand, are a great deal more malleable to me and I work on listening to them, and choosing to accept them based on my current knowledge and situation, or change them because they no longer reflect my reality.  I can reason with myself but I can't reason with my emotions.  Most times I find that my needy emotional side is quite childlike and needs a bit of reassurance from me that things will work out and that an adult is really in charge.  When my hunger is emotional, rather than physical, I always reason with myself and reassure myself that more good food is coming and it is just a short wait away.  Often, it is just me trying to soothe myself with food, I have learned to soothe myself with a hot drink instead, or if that is not available, some calming internal dialog and a short promise that I will not be harmed or starved. 

Happy,

As a former Food 12-Stepper, I am glad you post on here about the compulsion and desire to eat additively.  Currently and in the past I have no impulse control whatsoever, and I am hoping my upcoming Sleeve surgery, and help from this Board, will help me a lot.  I also am going to therapy.  I have two local therapists right now, and I need to just choose one of them!  There is also a 12-Step online Big Big Study for "all addictions" which I may start as well.  I need all the help I can get, since, as you well know, food is very, very powerful to addicts like us!