Iāve always known I use food to ātreatā discomfort. Belly feels funny? Eat something. Tired? Maybe eat something. Cranky? Try a snack.
But my attempts at fasting has made something so clear to me, I have a mental dependency on food. 99% of what I thought were justified snacking is just me trying to deal with my mental discomfort.
Yesterday I was perfectly set up to roll into my first full 24+ hours, and I broke itā¦not because my body wanted food, but cuz my brain was throwing a tantrum. And the feeling was weirdly akin to when I quit smoking 6 months ago. Like my body didnāt need cigarettes, my mind wanted them.
But for smoking, I had a pill that took the choice to smoke away from me. I donāt think they make that for food. Iāve gotta do this the hard wayā¦any tips? I think I have the physical side down pretty well, but how do i work thru the mental self-medication side of eating? Maybe I should read up on methods for breaking addictionsā¦.
Edit: Iāve been doing omad and 18:6 for the last four weeks. If Iām at work, I have no problem not eating. At home is a different story. So I need to figure out how to not use work as a crutch cuz I canāt work all the way thru an EF like I can an IF though I wouldnāt say I havenāt tried š
I do OMAD and have found that the daily fasting period really helped me with emotional eating, for two reasons:
While sitting with the desire to eat, I check in with myself physically and mentally/emotionally. Physically, I check on how my stomach feels; how my muscles feel; whether I feel faint or dizzy; whether I feel hot or cold; whether I feel pain anywhere. I even bought a blood glucose meter so I can actually check a number.
Mentally, I notice my thoughts and feelings ā am I confused about how to handle something; am I frustrated/angry with something or someone; am I bored; am I tired or sleepy; am I sad; am I scared/worried?
The physical check lets me know whether my body actually needs fuel. If I feel physically OK, then my desire to eat is probably not about my body actually needing food. Or maybe I do have a bit of physical discomfort, but if I pay attention, itās something that food wonāt fix ā like a muscle cramp from sitting in an awkward position.
The mental check lets me know whether I need to self-soothe. Food will soothe me for the few minutes that Iām actually eating itā¦ but then Iāll go right back to being stressed and upset. Maybe it would be better to step outside for a few minutes and walk around the block to clear my head. Maybe I need to take a power nap or just outright go to bed, depending on what time it is. Maybe I need to talk to a friend. Maybe I need to put on a TV show or read a book to entertain myself.
Basically ā I recommend trying this kind of check-in with yourself to better understand exactly what youāre feeling, and asking yourself āWill food really fix what Iām feeling?ā
I just started easing into fasting by doing basically alternate day OMAD, and by the second OMAD day I realized that Iāve had a lifelong fear of hunger, and Iāve never really been food insecure, so itās not based on some past trauma. And Iām the same way, I donāt have a problem with binging, but any time something felt off my first reaction was to eat something, thatās just how I was raised. Idk I donāt have a solution just noticing a similar feeling. Iām sure itās normal human behavior and you can train yourself to overcome the mental block eventually.
Contrave may be a solution for you. The naltrexone and bupropion kill the āfood as a rewardā pleasure center thing. It can be pricey, but you can get it through helloalpha or found with or without insurance.
Well, I tried again yesterday goal 24, and hopefully with a push overnight to 35 hrs. But I started to feelā¦depressed? Like all my old depression symptoms came back. It was cool to realize I havenāt felt that way in a while, but also feeling that way is unacceptable. Kinda scary. Not going back to that mental state. This was after giving up and sitting with my phone for four hours cuz I was so uncomfortable. So I called it and ate.
My body is pretty happy with 18:6 and omad, so I think Iāll continue with that. A 3-5 day fast will always be my pie in the sky, but I cant force it.