Friday, May 7, 2010

Eating, Drinking, Over-thinking

Ok, so yesterday I was at the library and I stumbled across a really interesting book. It's called Eating, Drinking, Over-thinking by Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema. Basically the core premise of the book relates to the fact that, as women, we have a tendancy to internalize our stress i.e. because of conditioning etc. we cannot adequately express our frustrations or problems and, as a result, we find ourselves in what the author terms as the the 'toxic triangle' (food, drink and depression).


It goes into great detail about the fact that we are acutely aware of our feelings and the reaction of our bodies to problems i.e. tension, agitation, lethargy and a sense of being out of control. Consequently, when we are under stress, we are likely to do something to change how our bodies feel which can cause us to binge-eat in an attempt to escape our feelings/refuse to eat and relish the feelings of power and control that comes from self-denial (but which ultimately leads to binging anyway). We may also drink or take sedatives to anesthethize the feelings, or we may just spend our time thinking and re-thinking about things that have happened/things we may have said or done etc.
I guess, in a nutshell, it's telling us that if we don't find another way of dealing with our problems or expressing ourselves, the natural outcome will be one, two or three of the following: yo-yo eating habits, excessive drinking and/or depression. It does also give us alternative ways of dealing with these problems but what I really found good was the fact that the book refers to real-life examples which I am sure we can all relate to and these make you feel just that little more 'normal' rather than abnormal. Whether or not you will actually derive any benefit from it is another thing (and entirely up to you) but sometimes it is just nice to feel understood! I'm also pretty damn sure that the majority of women actually suffer from exactly the same feelings as we do -they're just not prepared to admit it.


I don't know that I'll ever not want to be thin but I do know that when I'm at my happiest, food becomes less of an obsession and I do have a natural tendancy to be thin so I'm not going to give up on that dream of finding that sense of contentment again which will result in me reverting to my most natural state anyway! However, I do honestly believe that this principle applies to all of us i.e. if we were genuinely happy and content, we'd all be naturally thin because we really would only need to eat when hungry and finish when satisfied. Thus, restriction or over-eating really wouldn't be an issue!
Here's hoping we all get there eventually!


Love and best wishes to you all,
C xxx.

6 comments:

  1. Hiya, I'm definitely going to read this book! Anything that can offer insight would be greatly recieved. It's so awful that we think we have control but in reality it's not even close. Well, speaking for myself there!

    Thank you for your advice about lunch at work - it's really helpful, and I do always get so sleepy in the afternoons when I eat!

    Are you in the uk too?

    Vi x

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  2. Ha ha sorry I assumed you were from the uk only because you put kisses after your name like me - thought this was a very British trait!!!

    Yes was loving the progress but as predicted there was a bit of a stumble in the wrong direction this morning... Eek! Oh well!

    Vi x

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  3. Oh, ps I changed the name of my blog and display name by the way!!!

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  4. hiya,

    sorry for taking ages to reply to you - no excuse :(

    yeah it's been weird not recognising myself these days having changed so much. it's completely unintensional though - I constantly battle to maintain that old part of myself. it's just difficult. good advice though - thank you :)

    what happened to turn your life up in the past year? no worries if you don't want to talk about it, sorry if Im prying - just there was a hint there of something in your message.

    vi x

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  5. I completely understand! I don't know how long you've been Reading my blog for, but I did one all about how paranoid I was about beiing caught out. I guess now if someone who knows me stumbles across it, it's pretty obvious who I am!

    yeah my mum bless her... I must stress that she is very happy though and gets on with life :)

    really sweet of you, I'd love to hear more. you can find me on shrinking_violet@live.com

    speak soon!
    vi x

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  6. sunshine, how are you doing? I hope that everything is ok x

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