For some of us, it can be easy to feel like food has control over us. We say things like “The ice-cream was calling my name” and sometimes it feels like it really is!! Of course food is an inanimate object and can’t talk. The cravings, the urges and the “calling” are simply taking place in our thought.
When we answer that calling in our head, over and over again for reasons other than hunger…boredom, sorrow, stress, nervousness, procrastination it becomes a habit. Hmmmm….a HABIT. Wikipedia defines a HABIT as: A routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.
I find the above definition of HABIT to be very interesting when it comes to eating because so much of our over eating is done mindlessly. Unconsciously. When we eat for the above reasons or any other reasons besides hunger, we are usually doing it to escape from the state we are in that feels uncomfortable. Even though the food is a very temporary, short lived reprieve and doesn’t really make anything better, we repeat and repeat and repeat the action looking for a satisfaction that won’t ever exist in food. In a very short amount of time, we automatically turn to food without even thinking about it.
I find it helpful during those times that food is “calling my name” to stop and ask myself… Am I hungry or is this a habit? Going to the pantry after dinner: HABIT because I am not hungry. Eating a large portion: HABIT because I don’t really need that much to become filled up.
Don’t talk yourself into believing that food has control over you! YOU have the control over your choices and it you want to change them, CHANGE YOUR MIND. It all starts in our thought. Don’t allow yourself to feel weak or powerless over eating habits because you’re not!