Now, from the Bay Area's local news station, you're watching the Cron 4 Morning News at
9.
Well, only on Cron 4 this morning, the holidays, of course, can be a very stressful time, especially
if you're trying to lose weight because the parties are focused around food, around alcohol,
and around temptation.
So don't give up before you start.
Here's what we're going to talk about this morning.
Health expert Karen O'Walk is here with some tips to cope and still enjoy the festivities.
And I'm looking forward to your tips because so many people this time of year are just
throwing their hands up saying, I can't deal with all these parties.
Exactly.
And trying to just bow out of everything so they don't have to deal with it.
One of the things that you bring up is emotional eating, and that causes a problem.
Explain what that is.
Well, the holidays are very emotional time, and when you are feeling stressed, good stress
as well as distress, that can cause you to eat emotionally.
When you're eating behavior is driven by some type of emotion, that's emotional eating,
and it's very different from physiological eating and hunger.
How so?
Well, when you're eating emotionally, you want something right away.
You have that sudden urge to eat, and it's very specific.
Maybe like a comfort food, have you ever had a comfort, yes.
And then once you start eating, you can't stop, whereas in physiological hunger, the
hunger comes on slowly.
You don't have any specific type of food you want to eat, and once you eat, you stop.
You stop, exactly.
It's simple.
So how do you curb this emotional eating issue?
Well, the solution to emotional eating is to first recognize that you're doing it and
then to identify some type of pattern.
So what I like to suggest is a really simple four-step process, and it's called the stop,
breathe, reflect, and choose strategy.
And the first thing you do is stop.
Stop that automatic cycle of eating, and then breathe.
Because a lot of times when you're eating emotionally, you're stressed out.
So stop, breathe, relax for a minute.
This only takes a few minutes to do, and then reflect.
Figure out, are you hungry?
Are you angry?
Are you lonely, tired, bored?
Why am I reaching for that bowl of chips?
Exactly.
And then once you identify that, figure out, okay, why am I reaching for this particular
food and with this particular emotion?
And then you choose.
You have three options.
You could either choose to eat it, or you could choose a healthier version of it, or
you can choose to cope, and cope with some type of non-eating activity.
So if you're really stressed, maybe meditation, exercise.
Maybe if you're at work and you're stressed, maybe get up from your computer terminal,
take a short walk.
Exactly.
Does that fit in with what you're talking about?
That fits in, exactly.
Yeah, just try and get yourself away from that, and try and do something fun, and this
is time to really pick up a hobby.
And if you really need to talk to someone, call someone up, or write in your journal,
or really express those feelings instead of shove them down with food.
It seems like the first step in this is to become aware that you're doing it.
Exactly.
Because a lot of us, we just mindlessly grab for the popcorn or whatever it might be, and
just start eating.
Exactly.
It's that unconscious, mindless eating that drives us, and then really recognizing it
will help you resolve it.
Now one thing that happens a lot of times, a lot during this time of year is that we're
going to parties, and of course there's food and drink everywhere.
How do you deal with that?
Well, that's a thing, food everywhere.
One of the things they found in studies that when you're faced with a wide variety of food,
your appetite goes up.
Up about 23%.
That high.
Yes, yes.
So you're eating about 23% more food just because there's this wide variety to choose
from.
So try to step away from the table.
Try to focus on the people versus your plate, and just kind of mill around the room instead.
But so often, the host of the party may feel that they're not doing a good job because
you don't have a plate in your hand.
You could have a plate, but just put a few things, don't put a lot of variety on it.
Keep it to just a couple of simple things.
What happens in a situation where somebody comes up and says, oh, I have this great family
recipe for this dip, and you must try it?
Yes, there's grandma and Aunt Sally pushing food on you all the time.
This is where you have to kind of rehearse your script, figure out ahead of time, what
are you going to say?
Because you know that there are those food pushers out there that you're going to be
faced with.
So practice what you're going to say.
Sometimes I like to deflect and say, oh, Marty, come try Aunt Sally's dip.
Oh, I see.
You pull me in.
Yeah.
And then move around the room.
Okay.
Well, I think that's a good tip is to try and keep moving, and as you mentioned, to focus
on the people and not the food.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, Karen, we're just scratching the surface here, but at least we're giving some tips
on people who are going to parties, who are going to be possibly overeating, overindulging.
So thank you so much for that.
And again, the key here is just being aware of the use of food.
Yes, being aware and enjoy yourself.
There you go.
Bottom line, enjoy yourself.
Karen, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
