[noranoranora]

Lifeguard got me thinking about my own lightbulb moment. As previously confessed in another post, I smoked for many, many years and was only able to quit when my darling granddaughter was born. I was thinking how happy I was that I've been smoke free for 5 glorius years and it occured to me that cigarettes were like a baby's pacifier. I've heard the term "orally fixated" before like most of us probably has but I never drew the connection between smoking and eating. And here I was wondering how to keep my 1/4 pounder iwth cheese lit. LOL!!! Could I really be this dense? I always coped with stressful or joyous or boring situations with cigarettes, now I eat too much. Or, should I say "ate" too much.

Have you had an aha moment? You can use mine if you haven't. LOL!!!

[Get n healthy]

My aha moment also revolved around smoking. I kept thinking, heck, as addictive and smoking is, why can i quit that but i cant eat healthy? Then i realized...when you quit smoking you dont have to go from no filter camels to smoking light 100s just three times a day while being surrounded with other smokers smoking your favorite camels, actually offering them to you at times. With food, you do.
Basically, when you quit smoking, you quit. When you start eating healthy, you just have to cut down your addiction...no smoker could just smoke 3 light cigs a day, but i am expected to eat 3 light meals a day, basically. aha, no wonder it is so darn hard.

[canadian mom]

I am with u there

[BreakingFree]

One of my important "aha" moments happened several years ago. I was running errands after work, in a hurry, nothing was going smoothly, getting poor service and getting more angry and frustrated by the minute. I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to shove fistfuls of M&Ms in my mouth. Talk about finally making a connection! Angry /frustrated/feeling disrespected or undervalued = binge eating.

Wish I could say that this knowledge alone has helped me stop bingeing. Knowing this has helped me a lot but just a few weeks ago I found myself head-first in a box of baked goods (does it help that they were from Whole Foods? ) after a frustrating exchange w/ a co-worker (one of the docs who work in my dept.).

I just keep on truckin'.

[glynne]

Hi Mary,

I have a job related question ~ is there a way to PM you?

[BreakingFree]

Glynne -

I will turn my PM on - just give me a few minutes !

[glynne]

Thanks Mary ~ I have sent you a PM.