I couldn’t work up the nerve to enter my own comment section until after the boys were in bed last night. Truth be told, not only was I overwhelmed (thank you for being so gentle with me in that post), I was suffering from caffeine and chemical withdrawals. I dozed for a couple of hours in the afternoon once I admitted that my headache and bad mood were going nowhere and doing no one any favors. In short, I was a horrible, nasty, viper of a mom yesterday. Not even a pretty view out the front window could cheer me up. I put myself in time out.
Once I finally had the courage to concentrate on your comments, I found some great resources and recommendations. I’m putting them all together in this post so it’s easier for us to check out. It goes without saying that I would love for you to share in the comments any more sites, books, or articles related to emotional eating. Strange the way life works, by the way. Last week I was working on a post on emotional eating experts to follow on twitter. I never got around to it, but I think that would be a nice addition to this list, too.
Websites
Word of Wisdom is a wonderful blog written by a retired engineer with a medical background. I used to read it when he first started blogging (his daughter runs an incredible blog of her own). I don’t know why I stopped reading, but it’s back on the reader again.
The Happiness Project is one every one has at least heard of, probably because of the book of the same name. Lisa mentioned that Rubin makes an interesting distinction between two personality types: abstainers and moderators. The personality distinction would go a long way in explaining why intuitive eating doesn’t work for everyone.
Another Lisa (Lisa in Seattle) recommended The Fat Nutritionist. I read the post she linked to on emotional eating while Mikey and Nico were at swim camp. I went over her blog with more attention to detail last night, and was thrilled to see she cites Ellyn Satter as a personal hero. That’s all I needed to read. In all the research I did on childhood eating disorders this year, Satter is a name that came up again and again as an expert in the field.
I love Geneen Roth, so I was happy to see at least one person recommend her books.
“We don’t want to EAT hot fudge sundaes as much as we want our lives to BE hot fudge sundaes.”
I love her writing voice, I love what she says, and I love that she still screws up and then writes about it. (She fell victim to Bernie Madoff.) Despite that, I haven’t had luck with her eating plans. But, if I’m being honest, I’ve never really followed them or gave them a shot! Sitting down to eat, eating slowly, allowing yourself to have ice-cream for dinner…all of it like the ramblings of an insane person. Katherine found one of her books in college (Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating, which was retitled Breaking Free From Emotional Eating and is listed below) and believes it changed her life and her relationship with food.
Books
This is How | Augusten Burroughs
Never Satisfied: A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies, and Fat | Hillel Schwartz
The End of Overeating: Taking Control of America’s Insatiable Appetite | David Kessler, MD
The Happiness Project | Gretchen Rubin
Breaking Free From Emotional Eating | Geneen Roth
Update: Man, my head is still pounding and it’s now the next morning (I wrote this last night). I had to edit this post for 32 grammatical errors in the first sentence alone. I would close with something clever, but I don’t have it in me. Again, please share any great resources in the comments.
I just happened upon The Fat Nutritionist and love it . . . I’ll have to check out the others as well. That said, thanks for putting them all together!
You’re welcome, Amy!
“We don’t want to EAT hot fudge sundaes as much as we want our lives to BE hot fudge sundaes.”
Indeed. I’m sorry you had a tough day, it will pass and get better. I stopped the fake sugar and diet cokes with my move cross country. I didn’t realize how addicted I was to them but 4 weeks later the thought of adding the fake stuff to my coffee doesn’t sound appealing at all;)
The only way I can drink coffee is with fake stuff blended and whipped into a cold, frothy cup of delicious, so I guess coffee is out for me–at least for a while. My blood pressure is so low right now. That’s not helping, as you know.
I have found that making little changes one at a time is more sustainable for me. So I am trying to gradually make small changes to my diet that include eliminating processed and artificial stuff. My morning coffee is something I need to work on. I have been buying those CoffeeMate creamers and never really thought much about them. The other day I noticed a label on the container said “non-dairy”. It stopped me in my tracks, I was like – what?! How can creamer be non-dairy. So I looked at the ingredients and I was shocked. The main ingredients are corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottenseed oil. Yuck! I guess I will be switching to good old fashion milk in my coffee from now on.
Thanks Jules, I’ve never read Word of Wisdom, and liked what I’ve read this morning. What do you think are the next steps for you? Do you feel like you’ve been able to formulate a process/plan for moving forward? Somedays I think I’ve got a handle on it ALL, and then other days wish I could revert to a step-by-step process, and am thinking that I need to write things down systematically, create a system that works.
I haven’t. I’m reading Geneen Roth, eliminating all processed foods, sugar (artificial sweeteners, too), and sodas. So many people have said that really helped with the cravings.
I love the words of wisdom blog already – 1 paragraph in. :) And the fact that he refers to his spouse as “the beautiful wife” makes me like him even more. :)
I know, He seems like a very nice man and good father. His daughter raves about her parents and her childhood. Fancy that!
Hi Jules – I’m part of an accountability group where we are working through “Made to Crave” by Lysa Terkyrst. One of the things I’m currently doing is a 40-day covenant with God: similar to Lent, but I’m looking at it as more of ‘give up and get closer to God’ (positive), not ‘denying myself’ (negative). This 40 day period I’ve giving up alcohol (hello? hot day summer beer?) and empty sugar (sodas, twizzlers, ice cream, etc). I’ve done 40 days of no pasta (I love you carbs!) and chocolate peanut butter combos. The beauty? At the end of the 40 days, I find that I do not revert back to eating the stuff I gave up. For instance, I only have pasta once a week (used to be my go-to default meal), and didn’t even crave/want the Reese PB ice cream cake we had yesterday for a co-worker’s birthday. Just my thoughts. Good luck (and you’re not alone!)
Thanks, Dusa! I’ve read Lysa’s book. Is the accountability group part of Lysa’s website, or is this something you are doing among friends?
Thanks for the resource list. This is a topic I want to explore further. While I had a great burst of enthusiasm when I first went gluten-free, I’ve found it hard to maintain my momentum. (What a surprise.) I know I need to dig a little deeper. Really appreciate your honesty and candor in writing about this topic.
Thanks, Rita. Email me whenever you want, and I’ll do the same.
I missed your initial post and read this one and I have to 2nd or maybe 3rd Geneen Roth as instrumental to me in discovering my emotional eating habits. I also read her just out of college and while I still struggle with emotional/compulsive eating it gave it a definition to what I was doing and most of the time now I can talk myself down or at least recognize when my desires are more about the anxiety, or fatigue, or grumpiness then about really needing that HUGE bowl of chocolate ice cream or whatever I can get my hands on. I’m sorry to hear about her financial disaster with Madoff though.
As I’ve hit my mid-40s I’ve found I need to re-examine my eating habits even more – darn it my body seems to need less! – and I decided to do weight watchers. Its really helped me to take note of what I’m eating and to regulate me to know I don’t really need as much as I thought. And finally I’m losing some weight which is making my mood happier.
Thank you for starting this dialogue.
That is so encouraging to hear, Moorni. Which Geneen Roth book did you like best?
Breaking free from compulsive eating. I think that’s the name. I think I read others but this one had the most impact in stopping myself to recognize why I was eating. Was I hungry, tired, procrastinating, anxious or maybe just hungry. I still have it on my bookshelf somewhere.
Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose archives are amazing; search for things like “Health at Every Size”
http://kateharding.net/
Love your blog and hope you find this useful!
thanks for the mention :-)
I’ve added Fat Nutritionist and Word of Wisdom to my reader….I love finding good new blogs. Thanks :-)
I love the Happiness Project. It made a world of difference in my life when I read it. I also liked Woman Who Walk In Faith.
I left a comment on the previous post before I realized all the action had moved over here…darn! Anyway, I just wanted to add a recommendation – the book “When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies” by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter pretty much saved my life when I was in the throes of disordered eating/compulsive exercise.
It takes an ENORMOUS amount of time and patience to make intuitive eating work, but it really does work eventually. I used to hate my body so much, even when I was my thinnest – but I don’t now. It’s possible and it’s worth it – I wish you all the best!