“Whatever the situation, the answer is not in the fridge.”― Karen Gibbs, A Gallery of Scrapbook Creations

I've found that when one is stressed, grieving, or some other negative time in their life, they fall into two categories: stop eating, or emotional eat. I am in the later group. It does not matter if I don't feel hungry, I want to comfort and quiet my brain the best way I know how: open the fridge (or cabinet, or stop for fast food, etc) I also am VERY guilty of boredom eating, especially at night. The key in my case is to have a strategy for turning my mindset around and I wanted to post a list of things I find helpful!

• Recognize when I'm making several trips to the kitchen and evaluate whether I'm actually hungry or not. Am I thirsty? Or am I experiencing some kind of emotion? If it's 4:30 on a Saturday, maybe I should just eat my dinner. I've seen the tip of "drink a glass of water before deciding to eat" or "wait 20 minutes and if you're still thinking about xyz, then allow yourself to eat", and that only helps sometimes.

• When watching TV/movies have your hands do something, just as coloring, knitting etc. I also have some games on my phone like Yahtzee or I'll log my calories for the day.

• Play with your pet- my cat likes to play with a laser pointer or ribbon toy. Better yet, take your dog for a walk or to the park.

• Clean, chores: there's always a pile of laundry to do, counters to wipe down, or floors to sweep. I'll often start a load of laundry and during my washer and dryer cycles will do other chores. That way I don't get sucked into a 20 minute social media scroll.

• Reading or exercise: both of these things I need to work on doing more of. I'm often using the excuse of "I worked all day and all I want to do is veg on the couch", but if consistently take 20-30 minutes of movement then exercise won't feel so much like a chore. I also have a stack of books to read in my living room, some of which were gifted to me (sorry Dad, haven't read the book you gave me Christmas 2022 but at least I started it LOL!) I've slowly started reading again on the weekends for 20-30 minutes at a time.

• Get outside/run errands: this allows me to be away from the kitchen and I often don't want to stop for food because of money and recognize I don't NEED anything. Sometimes if I feel myself fighting my brain on a walk and it's nice enough I'll drive over to Wells Beach. It's 2 miles from the jetty to the Forbes wall and back and walking on sand is a good workout! Now I'm not saying you have to drive so far out of your way but fresh air is good for the brain as well!

• Call/text a friend or family member. Maybe there's someone you haven't talked to since Christmas and you want to catch up. Maybe by calling you end up venting whatever negative energy you have built up and by the time you're done you aren't thinking of food anymore. Similarly, you could journal or someone a letter (yes, snail mail!)

• Lastly, keep healthier snacks and drinks on hand because if you do end up snacking at least "it could always be worse". Some recommendations would be herbal tea, lightly salted popcorn, veggies in hummus, Greek yogurt and fruit, and a banana with peanut butter.

Perhaps this list is obvious but sometimes we need a reminder of what we can do to distract ourselves.

Until the next time, take care <3 Bellatrix (the kitty I adopted in 2022) wanted to be added to the feed!