Ladies, does that sentence seem familiar? For me, it is an all too common scenario. Therefore, I’m going to come clean right here on EmpowHer.com: Ahem. My name is Samara. I’m 26 years old, and I suffer from obsessive eating.
It’s true. I can eat an entire family-size bag of Doritos in one sitting of Law & Order (Special Victims Unit, of course) and still crave more. That is an hour of non-stop chewing. The only good news that can possibly come of that despicable action is that I gave my jaw a workout (I burned about six calories). Apparently, my perception of normal eating is way off, and this is a very real disorder.
I’m not alone in this either. Sadly, 2 percent of our country – men and women alike – suffer from this, and unless you are aware of this disorder, you may not even bat an eye over your late-night attack of the fridge.
So, what’s your excuse for this in-excusable action?
Let me guess: stressful job, bad breakup, miserable weather, car died, unmotivated, on and on and on…Let’s stop there, shall we.
Scientifically speaking, triggers that set off this type of eating are stress, depression, anxiety, genetic factors and hormonal abnormalities. You name the setback, big or small, and yes, we women will eat till it hurts.
As for me, my job drives me to eat. I will eat anything I can get my grubby hands on that doesn’t involve the use of an oven. An hour after the crime has been committed, I am stuffed to the brim and bloated like a beached whale.
Your brain looks for short-term satisfaction, and the majority of the time, your conscience caves. For whatever reason you’re obsessively eating, your hypothalamus (the part of the brain which controls hunger) triggers your conscience to think food is the prescription needed. It’s like training a dog to play fetch. Fido gets so good at the game it becomes an involuntary action to pick up the ball and beg for you to play with him.
Getting upset with the decision to obsessively eat the entire bag, box or container of something and then making a vow to never to do it again is all too common in obsessive eaters. These are all good signs that you have gone too far.
I vow to make a change, for me.
Not every person obsessively eats for the same reason, but regardless of the cause, it still deteriorates your health and happiness all the same. Although I have not completely cured my disease of “junkfooditis,” I have taken steps to improve my everyday diet. With diabetes prevalent in my family, it’s never too early to ditch the snacking obsession and start obsessing over building a healthy lifestyle.
One way I have found harder to eat like a maniacal “cereal” killer is to not store packaged foods in the house. I have come to the realization that if something is packaged and easily accessible to open, I will hunt it down and devour it all. This goes for chips, crackers, sugary cereals, and half gallons of ice cream. Instead, I have resorted to oatmeal, plenty of fruits and vegetables that I have to cut up, one four ounce bag of plantain chips at a time, Smart Balance peanut butter, and protein powder to make a delicious and nutritious fruit smoothie. This allows me to control my fetish for mounds of salty, sugary snacks.
When I was in college, my girlfriend’s mom once told me to use alcohol in moderation. I laughed myself to a drunken stupor every night with that word – moderation. However, now I realize that everything in life should be taken in moderation. Whether it is your alcohol intake, adrenaline rush, snacking habits or gym routine, it should all be in moderation. If you can teach yourself that kind of self-control, trust me, you can teach yourself just about anything.