Kicking the Snack Habit

12/09/2003

"Each moment is a place you've never been." - Mark Strand

KICKING THE SNACK HABIT

In the December 15, 2003 issue of BottomLine Personal (BottomLineSecrets.com), Carol H. Munter and Jane R. Hirschmann, codirectors of the National Center for Overcoming Overeating, offered this advice on compulsive eating:

"Compulsive earters use eating to soothe themselves. They eat when they're not hungry and past the point of being full. They are conditioned to take comfort in both the taste of food and the sensation of chewing and swallowing. Then they use that comfort to get through moments of discomfort — sadness, fear, anxiety, stress, boredom. It's a myth that chronic dieters simply lack self-discipline. The real problem is that many people have developed a deeply ingrained habit of using food to calm themselves . . .

"So what's the cure? Return to the true purpose of eating — to satisfy your hunger. Tune out external pressure. Listen to your body. Become conscious of how you eat. Eat when your body — not your mind — needs to. We call this demand feeding.

"Demand feeding allows you to eat when you are physiologically hungry, without regard to mealtimes or other social traditions. One day you might eat twice . . . another day, six times. Don't judge or control your hunger — just recognize it and respond to it. Your goal is to reach a point where you have largely disconnected your food intake from your emotional life."

To learn more about the National Center for Overcoming Overeating (and about their book Preventing Childhood Eating Problems), go to: http://www.overcomingovereating.com/

To learn about the Exchange Beginnings Workshop "Childhood Nutrition," go to: http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0065

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.