Emotional Eating

Today was a day of challenges. Well, one challenge really, but it was a big one. My sister called me this morning to tell me that my Dad was in hospital. He'd had a heart attack. Luckily it wasn't too bad, his heart did not suffer and a couple of stents unblocked the artery. It was still a pretty big scare but.

In the past, emotional eating would have gotten the better of me. Today however, when I thought about eating chocolate, I was really surprised to find that the thought was almost immediately followed by a sense of horror. That was how my Dad ended up with a heart attack, by being overweight and having poor dietary habits. Did I want to go down the same path? I realised that this was a perfect opportunity to do things differently from the past. I knew I would be at the hospital for a while, so I bought a Sustagen drink and an apple. It kept me going till I got home again and had a proper sandwich for lunch (at 3pm)!

I am not foolish enough to think that I have kicked the emotional eating bug bear for good, but one of my habits to change is to learn from the past. Today, I proved to myself that I could do that. I could make different choices, ones that didn't include fatty foods. I chose food (from a servo!) based on what choices would be best to get me through the next fews hours and stave off a vending machine binge. I came home, very hungry, but rather than reach for the nearst and easiest thing to stuff in my mouth, I took the time to make a healthy sandwich that would sustain me properly. In all, I showed myself that eating properly, and being proud of that, could sustain me emotionally for far longer than the chocolate hit could before the guilt struck. I guess it really brings home the saying that "nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels".