SESSION 2 - Emotional Eating and Externalising

EMOTIONAL EATING
We discussed on Monday the subject of Emotional Eating.  The exercise involved marking emotions that you felt you experienced regularly, both good and bad, then naming the foods you associated with those moods.  You were then asked to name the activity you might associate with the moods, for example if you think about being happy, you might think about dancing, so dancing is the activity you associate with being happy, if you think about being angry, you might think about punching something, so either punching out a pillow or joining a boxercise class might be a good activity for Anger.
We then discussed crossing out the list of foods, and linking the moods directly to activities, to see if anyone would be able to replace a food with an activity when they feel a certain way.
How have you been getting on with this exercise?
Has your awareness of feeling a certain way, or wanting to eat when you feel a certain way, increased?
Have you been able to stop and at least consider doing something other than eating at that time?
Have you been able to not eat and do something else instead?
What else has been happening for you since the group on Monday?

EXTERNALISING
We also talked about "Mind Reading in the Shops" - the experience of believing you know what everyone else in a shop is thinking about you when you go to buy food for a binge.  We discussed how putting your thoughts about what you are doing "out there", or Externalising your feelings, prevents you from having to really connect with your own feelings about your behaviour.

"I don't care what other people think about me"
vs
"I really do care about what I think of myself".

Has your awareness of "mind reading" increased since Monday? Have you been able to do anything differently about going to the shop, when you are in the shop, or after you leave the shop?

Mind yourselves this week, and take good care.  Emma