Lived Experience Forum

[Josie72]

Hi All,

Ive been an emotional eater my whole life. Over the years, I’ve worked to identify and manage it and I’ve done pretty good recently. 

My mum passed away last July, the whole year was pretty horrid as with mum I also had to deal with my sister who has been one of my controllers/ manipulators so we didn’t actually speak for 5 years prior and had other long periods of not talking as well. 

Thru mums illness and passing, a year up to her passing, I found my voice with my sister and started standing up for myself & for mum. So a bit of a twisted trauma/ healing journey. 

I was pretty good with my food & excerise thru the core of my grief which I largely came out of about Feb. 

2 days ago I hit a wall. Went down bad, crying, feeling the whole ‘Depression’ heaviness. I pushed thru for work, kept to good eating & exercise but this morning I was at my worst. The emotional craving hit & an hour before work I went F it. Left early stopping at the servo and picked up 2 x 600ml coke no sugar (a habit I broke over a year go and only now have when eating out sometimes) and a packet of Fanta Mentos. 

within 20 min of starting to consume them my mood changed. The sad/ heavy Depression feeling went. Took about 2-3 hours before I finished the mentos, about an hour for 1 bottle of coke. Switched to my water and having second bottle of coke 5 hours later. 

The thing is the mood switch was dramatic and quick. Was it the food? Ie the sugar or is it perimenopause which I think I’m in. 

I like knowledge so I can understand and manage myself. 

Looking for opinions based on personal experience please. 

[tyme]

Hey @Josie72 ,

I can't really share anything in terms of perimenopause however, I know I had issues with eating. 

I brought this up with my psychologist who told me it's a good idea to ensure I eat a good healthy meal so that I KNOW i'm not actually hungry when I crave food. 

Once I've established that I'm not hungry, I then practise different skills. One that works super well for me is the Smiling Mind mindfulness app. There is a mindfulness program that talks you through "Cravings" . It works a treat. I just need to do it once, and immediately, the craving goes... BUT, it does come back. So I find that initially, I have to do it again and again each time I feel the cravings, and now I don't need to do it anymore because my mind can control it 🙂

Not sure if this is helpful...

Sorry in advance if it's not.

[tyme]

Hey @Josie72 ,

How's things?