Weight Loss Blog

Before trying to change any eating habit, you need to understand why you eat the way you do. Many times the reason isn’t related to money or cost. People can subconsciously use food as part of their coping mechanism for living.

At the end of the day, many people bring home all the stress they had that day. One way to "FEEL" relaxed is to have a full stomach.

With a full stomach, the body diverts blood away from the brain and large muscles to aid the digestion system. This leaves a calmer feeling in the system. That is why you will get an upset stomach if you try to do heavy work or exercise after eating a large meal.

There is a calmer feeling, but the stress is still there. When the stress returns the next day, the person again fills up the stomach to get the relax feeling. This doesn’t help solve any of the stress related issues, but the person only wants the relief. Now along with the stress comes health problems from the overeating.

Another way food is used, is for control. People who don’t have control over things in their life will use controlling their food intake as a means to cope. They can eat even when they feel stuffed. They have the power over the body to control the food.

While others use food to prove that they are right. These people usually have low self esteem. A person who doesn’t get along with the opposite sex, will overeat so they will be unattractive. No one likes a fat person, so it’s not my fault that no one likes me, or something similar is their reasoning.

When people get lonely or bored, they may turn to eating as something to do. Food is always there for you to prepare and enjoy. After loosing a job or a relationship break up, there is plently of free time for cooking and eating. And of course that good feeling you get with a full stomach relieves the stress feeling.

These are some of the unconscious reasons why people have unhealthy eating habits that lead to overweight and other health issues. The cure for these subconscious eating habits is to get help with the under laying problems; but the first step is to realize the reason why you subconsciously overeat.

Sometime it’s where and what you are doing that will lead to subconscious overeating.

When in social gathering there is usually food. And usually the food is the easy finger type ; pretzels, nuts, trail mixes, chips and dips, that are all high in calories. Going to parties, you get finger food plus the high calorie drinks. Sitting around talking with your friends with a bowl of nuts or other food near by, leads to unconscious snacking. The more talk, the less aware you are of eating. Your hand automatically reaches into the bowl for the food. Remember not to stand or sit near any food containers when at a party or gathering.

Restaurants are great places for finger foods. To keep hungry customers in their seats, while food is being prepared, you get offered some sort of finger food, chip and a drip.

The smell of food helps to increase your appetite and the finger food easily finds its way into your mouth. Try refusing the finger food and request a glass of water with a lemon slice. Sip on the lemon flavor water until you food arrives. You will have something to starve off the hunger with no added calories.

If you want the finger food, accept it and choose a low calorie entree from the menu to keep the total calories count down and not overeat.

The worst place to eat, is while sitting infront of the TV. You become involved with the program and can pack in the food without even thinking about eating, let alone how much you are eating. Don’t have food or drinks near you while watching TV. A good rule: do ONE thing only at a time , EAT OR WATCH TV. Better yet on your next food shopping trip leave out the TV snacks so you wouldn’t be tempted to eat and watch TV.

By becoming aware of some of these food traps, you can keep yourself from overeating and creating the associated health problems. Good health care takes some effort, but a little effort will go a long way in making you healthy.

What were your family values about eating when you were growing up?

Many families had big meals, lots of food and lots of sweets for desserts. You were encouraged to eat, skinny people were unhealthy. As an adult you don’t have simple meals, only ones with three different entries and plently of sweets for dessert.

Sometimes foods were used as rewards for good behavior. You were never rewarded healthy foods, it was always sweets like candy or ice cream. Of course you wanted to please the person giving you the reward, so you ate it all. As an adult, you give yourself lots of rewards, plenty of sweets in your diet.

As a child, one of your parents would fill up your plate of food and you had to "clean your plate" before you could leave the table. The problem with this method is the plate usually contained the amount of food that the grown up thought you needed. There were no child size servings for children. As an adult you always eat all the food you take even if you are full.

You may have grown up in a family were there was little food. You made yourself a promise that when you grew up there would be plenlty of foods. As an adult you eat lots of food to make up for the time when there wasn’t much to eat. You say "I like to eat".

You need to understand that your parents usually tried to do what they thought was best for you. At the time when manual labor was common, it was neccessary to have heavy meals. Now days many office jobs require more thinking skills than manual work, large meals are not needed. But your old habits are ingrained into your subconcious thinking which conrtol many of your daily actions. Trying to change these on a concious level doesn’t work. You need to understand why you do the things that you do, in order to change. It takes time and effort to change habits. The rewards of a healthy life is worth all the effort.