Emotional Eater?

What is emotional eating?

It's a form of disordered eating and is defined as an increase in food intake in response to negative emotions, and can be considered maladaptive strategy used to cope with difficult feelings.

Or in other words, it's a poor excuse of a title we give ourselves for binge eating (I don't mean the binge eating disorder), indulging in the consumption of food or substances we know will hurt us and we know we regret the second they enter our bodies, but we keep on doing it until we find ourselves covered in our own tears.

After talking to several people who admit to being "emotional eaters", I've found one thing in common in both men and women, self loathing.

Coping with a problem by hurting ourselves? Isn't that a form of masochism? How do we expect ourselves to get better if instead of solving the current problems, we are creating bigger ones, only making the pile bigger and heavier to carry on our own?

In answer to my question "why do you do it?" I often got "I don't care, no one cares about me anyways, so why should I?"

Hold on a second, so if you think nobody cares about you, you should not care about yourself? Why do we always wait for things to happen to us from outside ourselves?

People don't care? People just have enough on their own plates that they probably cannot manage both yours and their problems.

I blame this concept on the silly fairytales we are told as kids, specially to little girls, where the story always depends on a knight in a shining armor to do something extraordinary like fighting a dragon, killing a witch... going to war, killing a giant... a ghoul... to win the girl and create the "Happy Ending". Well, let me tell you this, if that prince saw that girl diving into that bucket of ice cream, sitting in her PJs for a week, binging carelessly into all she has in her pantry... depressive, self loathing and with low self esteem... even the most naive of "princes" would double back and run for the hills!!!

Only misery loves company! If you are sick of your own misery, then in this state you are in, don't expect to attract anything but likeminded people... people who might drag you down even further.

If you want a happy shiny person, you have to be happy and shiny yourself. You have to love yourself, take care of yourself, don't get me wrong, this is NOT to impress anybody, nor to put on a mask and pretend!

I know you might have heard it all before, love yourself this, love yourself that, but nevertheless, it is true. It does not mean to kiss your own reflection in the mirror, or take yourself on a date, but even those, why not? If they make you feel better about yourself. Why wait for someone to take care of you? Take care of yourself and be self sufficient, don't wait for someone to "complete" you. Be complete withing yourself, let others admire you and envy you for your serenity, peace and ability to withstand any sort of situation that would leave others broken under the pressure.

If someone comes along the way to walk the path you are on, that is a bonus, appreciate it, enjoy it while it lasts, but don't forget yourself while you're at it. Never forget yourself. If you are not happy, you cannot make anything work, no matter how hard you try. And if you hate yourself, no one will be able to love you the way you wish and hope for. So start now. Do the NASA rocket launch countdown and get off that couch. Say ENOUGH! This is NOT me! I am better than this and I CAN DO THIS! Make this your mantra, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this! Chant it, sing it, dance it! Talk to yourself, yell at yourself if you have to, but take care of yourself! Discipline yourself again. Remember all the values you were taught in your childhood... build your "routines" again, no matter how boring it sounds... start by making your bed in the morning. Don't leave dirty dishes in the sink... put your dirty laundry in the washing machine... put that TV remote away... get up, right now, take a shower, go out for a walk, sleep early, drink water, and when you eat, eat what you love and don't punish yourself by it. Break the cycle. Eat in moderation. Eat to celebrate, don't binge. If you want to eat a bucket of ice cream, do it, but enjoy doing it, don't do it for the wrong reasons! And exercise afterwards... no need to hit the gym... just go out for a couple of long walks... be active... Don't  punish yourself  even more. You deserve love, so start by loving YOURSELF.


Just saying.