Compulsive Eating: When You’ve Fallen Off The Wagon

Compulsive Eating

How To Control Your Compulsive Eating

Hey All!

It’s been like a rollercoaster these past few days! Yes, I fell off of the wagon, but I am back on and holding on to the reigns!

“Oh goodness, Tracy, how ever did that happen?” I can truthfully say that it was not my fault….It was my Uncle’s fault….He died. The wake was last Friday and the funeral was on Saturday. All weekend long I was up to my ass in fried chicken, sweet potato pie (I ate a whole one by myself), greens, dressssinng, and every kind of cake you can imagine.

Ladies, it was not pretty. Now I know how drug addicts feel when they relapse – I totally lost control. And I kept telling myself “Okay, just have one more piece of this pie, then stop. You can cheat a little, it won’t hurt”. Next thing you know, Sunday morning I’m at the all you can eat breakfast buffet with two plates full of french toast sticks and a bowl of maple syrup. The maple syrup was my beverage…

What stopped me dead in my tracks was two things – I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded from all of the sugar and carbs that I was eating, and I totally forgot about a certain purple sequined dress that I had to squeeze in THAT NEXT SATURDAY!!

Compulsive Eating

Soooo, I put that weekend behind me, and started fresh last Monday – four pounds heavier!! have managed to shed two of those pounds so far, and my goal before the next weigh in is 10 lbs. I want to be in the 2-teens by the end of the month. I can do it….but for right now, I gotta get in that dress!

It’s a cute little number…I was going to post pics this time, but the dress wasn’t fitting as smoothly as I would have liked. But no problem!! I came up with a solution tonite as I was retrying the dress on.

Now, ladies, Moi is a firm believer in foundations – ya know, girdles! Put one on, drop a size and smooth out the love handles, plus they help your posture. You won’t be able to exhale, and you are probably crushing some major organs, but who really needs a liver and a pancreas anyway? You are looking good, that’s all that matters!

The dress is a little snug around my problem area – the middle! I swear, I look like an apple on two sticks. I am doing 50 crunches a night and it is helping some, but I gotta look good by Saturday, so I needed a quick fix. Now, the girdles that I have are pretty much for support, so if you have a belly and no waist line, they kind of meld into one round like shape. For this dress, I needed some hips and a waistline, so I went to the tried and true method for fakin‘ the funk…..

That’s right, I reached for the Saran Wrap! Laff if you want to, that stuff is better than Spanx! And cheaper too! Five or six go rounds around my middle and WALA! – instant waistline! And as an added bonus, once you are wrapped like a mummy, you don’t want to eat as much because you are scared of the whole thing rolling into a big tourniquet and cutting you in half!

HAHAHA! Don’t ya love being a girl? I’m not even going to mention the purple suede matching shoes that deform my feet as I walk! By Sunday morning, I’m going to have hoofs (hooves?) but Saturday nite, I’m gonna look great!

Well, I think the lesson we all can learn from this is :

a. When you are dieting, try not to have relatives die. If they can’t help it, don’t go to any funerals til after you have reached your goal.

b. When you fall, get right back up, forgive yourself, and carry on. No one is perfect, and the road to success is paved with little slip ups.

c. French Toast sticks RULE!!

d. Saran Wrap is a girl’s best friend.

Til next time, keep up the good fight ladies! YOU CAN DO IT!

I’m A Compulsive Eater And Sugar Addict | Food Addiction Series Part One

Compulsive Eater

Compulsive Eater And Sugar Addict

A long time ago I came to the realisation that I was a sugar addict and compulsive overeater. This realisation did not come overnight. It took years to understand myself and my relationship with food.

I was a pretty normal eater and average sized kid up until the age of 8, but around 8 I developed an abnormal and unconscious relationship with food. Abnormal because I used food particularly sugary foods not just to fuel my body’s functions but to comfort, nurture and protect myself. Unconscious because for a long time I didn’t understand that that was what I was doing.

I have lived in Barbados, France, the USA and Britain and though these are very different societies in many ways, two of the things they have in common regarding obesity is their lack of understanding of many of the psycho-social issues that create obesity and their assumption that overweight or obese people are simply greedy, lack willpower, don’t care about ourselves, have not pride, are lazy, stupid etc. and therefore can be ridiculed subtly or overtly and generally discriminated against.

I’m not a doctor, dietician, psychiatrist or psychologist and I don’t pretend to know everything about obesity. What I do know from my own experience however, is that obesity is a symptom and the most successful way to treat it is to identify and address its root cause(s).

Thanks to Sweet Potato Pie for affording me a space for this weekly post sharing my history as a compulsive eater and sugar addict, and my journey to living a healthier life.


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The Socio-economic Reasons Behind Obesity In The Black Community

Obesity Black Women

Class Issues Contribute To Obesity Epidemic

Alternet.org has an interesting take on the obesity epidemic in the U.S. They look at it from a genetic, body image, socio-economic and class perspective. While I don’t know if I agree with the body image take and study after study has shown that genetics play a limited role in obesity/overweight issues, the socio-economic/class issues really hit home.

Just from personal experience it can be very expensive to eat healthily. If you’re poor or on a fixed income you just don’t have the money to shop at Whole Foods. And fresh fruits and vegetables as well as lean meats are EXPENSIVE. Here is a bit of the article:

It’s not as if we don’t have the evidence that these factors — culture, class, education, genetics — matter. Yet another study just came out by University of Washington researchers who found gaping disparities in obesity rates among ZIP codes in the Seattle area. Every $100,000 in median home value for a ZIP code corresponded with a 2 percent drop in obesity.

Adam Drewnowski, director of the UW Center for Obesity Research, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,”If you have this mind-set that obesity has to do with the individual alone, then ZIP codes or areas really should not come into this. But they do, big-time.”

This is not to say that individual behavior doesn’t play a vital role in our country’s obesity rate, but we too often neglect to think about the cultural and institutional influences on a person’s behavior when it comes to eating and exercise.

You would never look at a working class, single mother driving a jalopy with three kids crawling around in the back and say, “Gees, what’s her problem? Why can’t she drive the Lexus hybrid like me?” You understand that she doesn’t have the means, and furthermore, probably doesn’t have the peer influence that would make it seem like a viable option.

In the comments section of the article a working mom comments about the class aspect of weight loss and healthy eating:

Most interesting, this article. I am a working-class single mother who, until very recently, worked two jobs, six days a week, and could only squeeze in one weekend afternoon (after work) a swim at my local “Y”. I worked out for three years, and made much progress on my physique, but also note that without a car, I was not able to work out more often.

Two years ago, I was suddenly diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer, had to move to a smaller residence (where I now live alone, my kids are now grown), and cope with my new illness
as best as I could living on S.S.I.

What I’ve discovered that compared to my previous working life, I now had time to focus on physical health, learn to be able to pamper myself, and eat healthier than I used to. What I’ve also discovered is it takes a lot of work to eat healthier, as I’ve noted, you can’t keep a head of lettuce (or any produce, for that matter) for a week in your fridge.

In order to be able to just keep up a regimen of healthy eating, you have to shop several times a week to keep
fresh fruits and vegetables available for most every meal. There is no way on God’s earth with the kind of grueling
schedule I used to keep that I could have the luxury of sashaying off to my local health food produce store to
keep fresh food on hand as I can now that I no longer am working.

Other readers make an excellent point that the article actually misses and that’s the role of Big Food, Big Agriculture and Big Government play in the obesity issues that face the US:

However, what is missing here is some discussion of the effects of industrial farming practices on the nutritional content/value of the food we buy and eat every day. And the preservation of the integrity of the soil. [This is not the place for organics-fans, vegetarians and vegans to insert a statement of how clever they are to buy organic: this problem is much bigger than your adorable little consumer habits. Call me hostile, but it would be a real break if the solipsists could just peek above their personal horizons for a brief moment to look at the bigger picture.

We cannot continue to extract our food by the brutal forces we apply in crop farming, animal farming, food marketing, artificial this and Bt that, terminator seeds a third, and still expect to preserve the integrity of our food and our environment. It’s gradually becoming clearer to the brighter lights among us that despite the vast amounts of food consumed by many here in the West, that people are actually still hungry, that no amount of this nutritionally empty industrially produced food laced with hunger-generating hormones will satisfy.

And another:

…check out the labels on some common foods and condiments (ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, etc.). these days it is difficult to find a prepared food that does not include the ingredient “high fructose corn syrup”. this is not a naturally occurring additive – it is highly processed and has no nutritional value. in fact, it is very likely a health hazard. even bread products now have this as one of the main ingredients. I challenge you to look at the list of ingredients next time you go to buy bread. asking people to give up carbohydrates entirely is absurd, but even food that is not considered “carb” contains this ingredient. it is entirely for the profit of the manufacturers that this is in our diet, and its inclusion probably contributes to the problem of weight with which many of us struggle. obesity in america has many underlying causes. let’s not forget that seemingly innocent foods can be as much a part of that as the trend over the past several years to make servings at restaurants and take-away food merchants enormous. some responsibility has to be laid at the feet of the purveyors.

I think what the article and the comments show is that the obesity issue in this country is no where near as simple as “Just take personal responsibility for your behavior and choices.” While that is a part of it there are also a lot of entities working to make SURE you overeat. I think you have to look at the whole picture and understand ALL the FACTORS involved regarding weight and food in America to best devise a strategy to lose the weight and live a healthier life.

To read the rest of How to Address Obesity in a Fat-Phobic Society click on the link in the sidebar under “Articles.” Be sure to read the comments as well.


Is Your Natural Hairstyle Causing You To Go Bald?

Natural Hairstyle Balding

Is Your Natural Hairstyle Causing Hair Loss?

This isn’t exactly a weight post but it does deal with hair and we all know that hair is one of the main reasons black women site for not working out. Seems like some natural hairstyles are not all they are cracked up to be:

Why children who braid it like Beckham risk losing hair

Girls who plait their hair too tightly or scrape it back in braids or a ponytail may be at risk of permanent hair loss, researchers suggest.

Hairstyles such as corn rows or braids and those that require chemical straighteners, weaves or hair extensions can damage hair and cause bald patches over time, the British Journal of Dermatology reports today.

Related diseases of the scalp, skin and hair are thought to affect people of African descent particularly. However, dermatologists have underlined the dangers of excessive treatment or scraping back for any hair type.

The tight bun styles favoured by ballet dancers, the corn rows once sported by David Beckham or the dramatic “Croydon facelift” look parodied by Vicky Pollard, the Little Britain character, could all potentially cause problems, they said….keep reading.

So just some things to keep in mind for those of you who swear you can’t sweat out that hair. Maybe you should try other types of natural hairstyles. If you’re wearing weaves, braids or other pulled hairstyles make sure they are not oo tight. Also, give your hair a chance to just be without any excessive styling involved. Ultimately, you should aim to have healthy hair and a healthy body.


3 Steps You Can Take To Control Your Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating

Gaining Control Of Emotional Eating

So I was searching the web for some practical solutions to emotional eating but kept coming up short. So I thought well, I can offer what (little) advice I have on how to deal with the problem.

1. Run

Or simply put find some other way to channel whatever energy you have that you’d rather put into a pint of Haagen-Das, a bag of oreos or whatever you favorite comfort food is.

I used to be a really angry person for a lot of different reasons. Eating was one way to deal with that anger, sex was another (that’s another conversation) but EXERCISE was the best. Nothing mellowed me out faster then doing 20-30 minutes on the treadmill or punching a heavy bag or running. The idea was to exhaust myself so that I wouldn’t have time to worry or stress about what upset me.

2. Bargain With Yourself

Like I said in the last post I made a deal with myself. Eat all of the good stuff (fruit, veggies, whole grains, etc.) during the day and then ice cream is my reward. And let me stress to you how much I Luuuuuvvvv ice cream.

3. Wait It Out

What I mean about this is that if you find that you’re craving something to eat but know you’re not really hungry give it 10-15 minutes before you indulge and most importantly go do something else. Call a friend, hit up a blog (preferably this one:-) ), clean something…whatever it takes to let the craving pass.

Final Thoughts

That’ s all I have for now but if you have other suggestions feel free to post them. This is a subject I will come back to a lot ’cause I suspect that many of us are eating for reasons that have nothing to with hunger and for us to lose and keep the weight off it is something we will have to understand and work on.


My Plan To Conquer My Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating

Overcoming Emotional Eating

My name is T.S. Johnson and I am an emotional eater.

Seriously, I eat for many reasons that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with hunger.

I eat because I am sad, lonely, bored, depressed, angry, horny (yeah I said it) and for a host of other reasons that have nothing to do with satisfying a biological need. I wish I could sit here and tell you that I have conquered this issue and that’s why I’m currently losing weight but I’d be lying.

I don’t have any good answers for it. For me my emotional eating is usually not a problem. Since I turned 18 I have worked out regularly. So worst case scenario I wouldn’t lose any weight but I wouldn’t gain any either.

The problem would come when I wouldn’t be exercising as often or as hard as I should be then I would gain weight. Lots of it. This is basically what happened after I had my daughter. I was 130lbs right after and within a year I was 160lbs. SMH.

 

Emotional Eating

While I still passed what I call the “jeans test” ( I still looked good in a pair of jeans and plenty of people let me know it.) I went form a size 4 to a size 10 and just thought I was the size of a cow. And much of the weight stemmed from a mix of depression, frustrations, stress and much more sedentary lifestyle then I was use to.

So what do I do now? Well I still eat for various non-hunger reasons but I made a deal with myself that if I eat most of the right things during the day (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, etc.) then I can indulge in a little ice cream.

I also decided I wouldn’t have any guilt about what I was eating anymore. If I had a bad day and indulged a little more then I should have then I’d say okay and I’d do better the next day. My system isn’t perfect but it works for me.

So my question for those of you who fall in the emotional eating category is: what do you do? What are your strategies for dealing with it? What are the reasons behind why you eat?

For those of you who read this and are thinking, “I have no idea what she is talking about it. I just don’t get it,” feel free to play armchair psychiatrist and offer your insight.