Alternatives to Food

amother

Waterlily

Thu, Dec 26 2024, 6:09 pm

Following. It’s a specific type of hell. Makes you feel like there is something wrong with you. I watch my husband and kids at the shabbos seudah. They eat and then stop. I can’t. I literally can’t. Then the whole afternoon I’m snacking. And I eat right through stomach pain. It’s definitely filling a huge emotional void- childhood and extreme current stress… but I have to stop. Somehow. I also gained so much weight and hate the way I currently look and feel but the food noise is the worst. I literally davened for help with this at the chanuka candles last night.

growingmum

Thu, Dec 26 2024, 6:58 pm

I can relate- especially now with lots of doughnuts and chocolates around..
A few things that help me..
Get in touch with other hobbies and interests
Stay out of the kitchen after a certain time
Cooking is sometimes good as you get the sensory experience and deal with the boredom without eating (straight away)
Do grounding activities like breathing
Get fresh air

amother

↑ Bottlebrush

Thu, Dec 26 2024, 7:48 pm

amother Burgundy wrote:

This is me exactly. Like rhe thinking about lunch until I eat it. Sometimes I eat everything straightaway thinking that will perhaps calm my brain so I can focus on everything else. I go through stages of better self control but still the thoughts are constant it makes me crazy. I've tried all the tips mentioned and more but the background noise will never go away.

Till I tried mounjaro. It was like my brain just stopped, quiet. It was amazing, more than the losing weight was the peace I finally felt. And then I had so much more brainspace for all the other things in my life, all the things that usually were so much effort for me to do became so much easier. I had more time, more fucus. I was literally a changed person and I felt normal for the first time in forever. I'm not even so overweight I took it just for a few weeks before a simcha. but I told dh I need to stay on the injections just for that peace. Alas I can't afford it so much so I've been off for a month and now all that food noise is right back there. Ita awful. Honestly I thought I was the only crazy one

I really don't want to take weight loss medicine. Is there another way to get rid of the noise?

amother

Tulip

Fri, Dec 27 2024, 9:30 am

I had the same response to Ozempic
The peace of mind was blisssssss
Until I stopped and the food obsession returned along with the weight I managed to lose Sad

I just discovered a book, half way through reading it but it seems very promising in ending the cycle.
I can only hope this method works for me!

Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Emotional Eating

amother

Peachpuff

Fri, Dec 27 2024, 10:12 am

amother OP wrote:

Amother maple, I just looked up DBT skills and the third one was " Taste- enjoy your favorite foods" lol!
But I definitely will look at the other ones, thank you!
Drinking tea is definitely helpful but sometimes I feel like I need something to go along with it Wink

It's not automatic that you can never use that option. I often have this experience that I can't stop thinking about food and finding something to eat. But other times, I can take a spoonful or small piece of a food that I like and focus on eating it slowly and enjoying it. And then do something else.

amother

↑ OP

Wed, Jan 01 2025, 2:28 pm

Thank you for all of these suggestions, somehow it feels good to know I'm not alone. I hope we can all conquer this together!
To the poster who said you're taking mounjaro. What are the side effects of that? Is it basically the same thing as a ozempic? I don't want to take something like that.
The book sounds good, I'll look into it

↑ BmoreBubby

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 2:04 pm

Daily intermittent fasting helps me. Limits my "eating window" so that at ieast during the fasting time I'm not noshing.

2nd thing is keeping sunflower seeds around. I'd rather not nosh, but if I nosh on them, at least it's something healthy!

amother

↑ Maple

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 2:58 pm

amother OP wrote:

It sounds funny but that one's actually equally helpful.

The key is to enjoy your favorite food. DBT has a whole way you're supposed to savor the food. First you take a small bit. One reason. And you enjoy every bit of its taste and texture and smell. When you finish it, you could stand up, go back to the cabinet, and take another one of you so desire.. And repeat. When you eat too much, you paradoxically stop enjoying it so much. Learning to savor and get maximum enjoyment from smallmouths of food can help.