Snow White - And Other Fairy Tales

So how emotional are you over food? Some people regard food just as a source of fuel. They skip meals because they literally forget to eat and it will only be that gnawing hunger in their stomach that drives them to food. Lucky them, you might think. Actually, that's not that case. People who are VERY food unaware can easily make poor food choices because they are just not paying attention to what they eat. They won't overeat, but nor will they choose good quality nosh.

I'm assuming, if you're reading this newsletter, that overeating might be something you do. It could be for the sheer love of food (let's not knock it; eating is one of the great pleasures in life). But if you find that you eat so much that it affects your weight and your health, then emotional eating is the problem. People who overeat because they've simply got into bad habits can usually correct that fairly quickly and once they start paying attention to their food they will shed the pounds quite easily. If, on the other hand, you have difficulty dieting or maintaining your weight at the end of a diet, you are an emotional eater.

And what does this have to do with Snow White?

Well, do you eat when you are Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey or needing a Doc(tor)?

It is so easy to use food to feed the emotions when what you might need is a hug, a chat with a friend, a walk in the sunshine, a refreshing cup of tea (the British cure for a crisis), or some more exciting physical activity that I can't mention in a family publication.

So... when you feel like overeating, what are you really feeling? And how else can you deal with that emotion?

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