Stress Eating

It happens.  EVERYONE does it.  When things seem to get out of control, and you turn to the kitchen.  Why?  Because the food doesn't talk back.  The key to stress eating is recognizing that you are doing it.  I have always been a stress eater.  I have been a very neat and organized person for years.  I am a planner.  I over think the planning process to the point where I replay conversations and events, that haven't even happened yet, over in my mind.  To make matters worse, I get really frustrated and flustered when things are not going according to my per-meditated plan for events that are not even in the realm of things that I can control. Does this sound at all familiar?  I know I can't be the only one.  One of my personal New Year's resolutions this year is to learn to let things go.  I am trying. 

So, why the blog post about stress eating?  Well, because I am currently (like right this very minute) trying to avoid stress eating.  I mentioned in my last post that we are trying to sell our house.  We have no place in particular that we are "moving to".  My husband owns his own, small company, and things are going well.  We are on the verge of some unique opportunities for our family.  The plan is actually to drop our mortgage and find something temporary to call home.  Sometime within the next year, we want to take time to travel and explore the world with our kiddos.  Sounds fun and amazing, right?  I think it will be too.  We put our house on the market in October, and since there really isn't any urgency to move, we haven't made any other plans.  We have had a steady stream of house showings, but no real bites yet.  Yesterday, we had another person come through the house.  Today I received a call that our house is at the top of their list.  The person is schedule to go through the house again in a few days.  I am a MESS!!  For the first time since this "plan" started, we actually have to start putting together "the next step".   I am sure everything will be fine, but my brain is in panic mode.  We have been in our house for 10 years, and even though I am ready to start on this new adventure, then unknown is scary.  We don't yet have a place to move to temporarily....we haven't even really looked for anything yet.  Then the thoughts of trying to home school and move all at the same time, just makes me feel overwhelmed. 

I am clearly NOT hungry, but all I wanted to do was head down to the kitchen and find a bag of potato chips. Grrrr!  Instead, I decided to sit down and type up this blog post.  I figured it would help me work through my thought process and calm my nerves.  Guess what? It worked.  I feel much more calm and collected.  I have worked through my anxiety WITHOUT food. 

If you are feeling like you want to run to the kitchen when you are stressed, take a step back and find something else to do.  Sit down and write down your thoughts.  Talk with someone.  Play a game with the kids.  Go exercise.  Actually, exercise is fantastic because Exercise reverses the detrimental effects of stress by increasing levels of "soothing" brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and nor epinephrine. Plus, exercise may actually work on a cellular level to reverse stress's toll on our aging process!!