Alternatives to Food

amother

Waterlily

Yesterday at 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

Yesterday at 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

Yesterday at 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

Today at 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

Today at 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.