Not an Emergency

Today marks four days of being binge free and I am going to do absolutely everything I can to keep it that way.  I have been having a lot of success with the rule "no sweets until after dinner".  By the time dinnertime comes around and I've eaten the urge to binge is usually gone.  Yesterday I took the kids to the splash and play pool at the gym and they absolutely loved it.  I took them one at a time so we were there for a looooong time.  We had lunch at the cafe and I would put one in the daycare there and take the other to the pool.  By the time Chloe had her turn though she was super tired, but she still managed to play for a whole hour.  Next time thought I will take Chloe first.

I've been working on managing my hunger over the past several days and I've had a realization.  Hunger is just another form of discomfort, like having to pee or getting a papercut.  If you have to pee you know it, it's uncomfortable but most of the time it's not an emergency (unless you ignore it too long).  Same thing with hunger.  If you are hungry you know it, it is uncomfortable but it's not an emergency (unless you ignore it too long).  We are use to all sorts of discomfort in our lives, but for some reason can't stand the discomfort of being hungry.  So that is what I have been working on over the past several days is realizing that yes, I'm hungry but I'm not going to die if I don't eat now.  In fact I'm not going to die if I don't eat for an hour or so.  Stick to the plan and don't go crazy.

This is one of the best pieces of advice (or at least the piece that has really stuck out to me) in the book "The Beck Diet Solution".  Every time I think of the phrase "Not an emergency" I think of that scene in Tinkerbell- Secret of the Wings when the visit the healing talent fairy and the receptionist says "Oh! Snapdragon right?  Not an Emergency, Plant it over there".  Now everyone who has young girls is laughing and everyone who doesn't has a blank look on their face and is going "okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay".

Focus on eating food to live life, not living life to eat food.  Every time I start thinking about eating food when I'm not really hungry, eating junk food, or eating sweets I go and involve myself in something else.  Either playing with the girls, doing a craft, something proactive.  Anything to get my mind off of food and on my life.  I'm tired of living for food, always waiting for the next meal or the next opportunity to eat.  Food needs to be in its proper place, fuel so that I can live my life.  This morning instead of lounging on the couch watching TV I played with the kids all morning, we spent time together as a family instead of me making pancakes and cleaning the kitchen and then sleeping on the couch.  I ate oatmeal for breakfast and I feel really good right now.