Saturday, November 26, 2005
Overcoming Mindless Eating - Part 2
What does low-carbing have to do with a nicer smile? For me, EVERYTHING!
Ever since I embarked on my new lifestyle, I've been searching for ways to stop that nagging feeling that I want to want to eat something even though I'm not hungry. Eating when you're not even hungry is the second type of mindless eating I listed in my previous post. I call it "mouth hunger."
Some of us have become so accustomed to dealing with stress, anxiety, and boredom by keeping our mouths busy chewing food. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it's true. Up until recently, I used to do it all the time -- mindlessly -- as a way of pacifying myself. It's a good thing I finally decided that it was time to grow up and wean myself from the binky that was killing me. In order to do this, I had to start dealing with the feelings behind my own mouth hunger. I'm not going to lie and tell you that waking up to your own emotions isn't painful, because it is. But facing your fears and feelings can also be very empowering, not to mention liberating.
Unfortunately, once I learned to face the emotions behind my mindless eating and process with them, my mouth hunger didn't go away. Why? Because it I've been doing it so long that it has become a very deeply ingrained bad habit. Experts say that the best way to break bad habits is to replace them with good ones, so I've been seeking ways to keep my mouth busy without eating. If you struggle with mouth hunger like I do, perhaps you'll find some of these suggestions useful:
Ever since I embarked on my new lifestyle, I've been searching for ways to stop that nagging feeling that I want to want to eat something even though I'm not hungry. Eating when you're not even hungry is the second type of mindless eating I listed in my previous post. I call it "mouth hunger."
Some of us have become so accustomed to dealing with stress, anxiety, and boredom by keeping our mouths busy chewing food. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it's true. Up until recently, I used to do it all the time -- mindlessly -- as a way of pacifying myself. It's a good thing I finally decided that it was time to grow up and wean myself from the binky that was killing me. In order to do this, I had to start dealing with the feelings behind my own mouth hunger. I'm not going to lie and tell you that waking up to your own emotions isn't painful, because it is. But facing your fears and feelings can also be very empowering, not to mention liberating.
Unfortunately, once I learned to face the emotions behind my mindless eating and process with them, my mouth hunger didn't go away. Why? Because it I've been doing it so long that it has become a very deeply ingrained bad habit. Experts say that the best way to break bad habits is to replace them with good ones, so I've been seeking ways to keep my mouth busy without eating. If you struggle with mouth hunger like I do, perhaps you'll find some of these suggestions useful:
- Drink water. Drink a lot of water. All day. Every day.
- Chew gum, but make sure it's sugar free. The brands I prefer have no carbs and contain no aspartame. Read the labels.
- Brush and floss your teeth frequently. You'll be less tempted to eat when your mouth feels clean. Buy a variety of toothpastes in different flavors and alternate them. Nothing gets my teeth whiter than Arm & Hammer, though.
- Keep a bottle of mouthwash handy and use it in between meals, or whenever you don't have enough time to brush your teeth. You won't want to spoil your sweet breath by eating after enjoying a good swish.
- Keep some sugar-free mints in your pocket. Or those breath strip things. Or use a breath spray. Listerine recently came out with a pocket spray I really like. Buy several and keep one in your car and in your desk, too. Keep them in plain sight so you remember to use them.
- Use teeth whitening strips. You can't eat or drink anything while wearing these and they keep your mouth busy for 30 minutes a day for a week (or two weeks, depending on the brand). I like the 7-day advanced whitening ones by Crest, but they run about $35 a package. You might want to watch for coupons in the Sunday paper and wait for them to go on sale, like I do.
- Suck on a sugar free hard candy. I love the Smooth & Creamy mint chocolate chip ones by Baskin Robbins. These are made with Splenda, acesulfame potassium, and sugar alcohols. Avoid the brands with aspartame. Walgreens usually has a good selection. Be careful, though, eating too many sugar alcohols can have a laxative effective.
- (This one's mostly for the ladies -- but maybe for some of you guys, too!) Wear lipstick or gloss, or both. Oh, heck, go ahead and do the rest of your makeup while you're at it. You won't want to ruin your pretty face by stuffing it with food. Keep a mirror in your purse or pocket for frequent touch ups. Look in the mirror often and see the beautiful new you emerging.
- Fill up a cookie jar with little, folded slips of paper on which you've written things you enjoy. On each piece of paper, write something you like to do, and fold it up. Write something that seems decadent but doesn't involve food -- for example, "read a novel," "take a bubble bath," "give myself a pedicure," "ride the swings at the park." Never write something you think you should do but dislike doing. For instance, if you hate exercise, don't write "take a walk" or "ride my bike." When the urge strikes to eat, pull out one of the slips of paper and do what it says. You'll be surprised how fast you'll forget about food.
- Oh, did I mention drinking water? Isn't it about time to have another glass?
As you can see from the above list, low-carbing has definitely improved my smile. If you have more "flabu-less" ideas, please post them in a comment!
In a future post, I will discuss mindless eating pitfall #3.
// posted by Beauty and the Brain @ 1:32 PM 
