Office Buddy: "Have a great weekend..."
Text some hours later.
Office Buddy: "Just now leaving work... All I want is pizza and wine."
Me: "Well, you deserve it!"
Ok, todays post is about gifting ourselves with food. Why oh why would I ever tell her she deserved sugar on top of carbs with sitting oil on top!? Do I not care about this friend?! My question to you tonight is how many times have you said- I deserve this while eating something terrible? How many times have you said its been a really hard day, the only cure is a cake? How about Reed and I- we give each other candy and desserts as gifts! How about, if you're good you can have McDonalds? Or eat one bite of vegetables and you can have ice cream! Does any of this sound familiar?
We have a connection in our brains with food. This connection creates an addiction much like a drug or alcohol addiction. Don't believe me? Look it up! I did:
"Like many pleasurable behaviors—including sex and drug use—eating can trigger the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter in the brain. This internal chemical reward, in turn, increases the likelihood that the associated action will eventually become habitual through positive reinforcement conditioning. If activated by overeating, these neurochemical patterns can make the behavior tough to shake—a result seen in many human cases, notes Paul Kenny, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Therapeutics at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla., and co-author of the new study. "Most people who are overweight would say, 'I would like to control my weight and my eating,' but they find it very hard to control their feeding behavior," he says."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=addicted-to-fat-eating
This chemical reward becomes habitual because we like/crave/need the feeling. You always hear- I eat because I am sad and I am sad because I eat... Well, yeah! The only thing that cures drugs is more drugs or a complete break off. This is an addiction and you are NOT alone. Not even close. *** Side Note- whenever my AC turns on these days it smells like toast. Do you think I am going crazy? Reed confirms this.***My goal today for myself is to begin to re-train my brain that food does not have to be my only reward. In fact, I bought a 75 minute massage today for my 31st day. Reed chose running shoes. I am not saying go broke to gift yourself with something other than 99 cent fries or Dunkin Donuts but maybe a 30 minute time-out or a long bath can be your gift. How about a new kitchen tool or a cooking class? Guys, how about a BBQ with friends or a game night? (This sounds dumb, but I am not a guy so cut me a little slack!) Just think about it. I am not saying I wont ever enjoy a piece of cake again, I will, its engrained in me now, but I will no longer tell myself I deserve it. It will simply be something I enjoy.
I promise I didn't cheat today but this turned into a pretty long blog so no food today. I did, however, put bacon and chives on the cauliflower potatoes last night and man what a difference that made! Have you tried them yet? I also got unsweet tea from Sonic and they squeeze the lemons and put them in there for you! It was great and I didnt have to do a thing!
You're my hero.
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