Friday 22 October 2010

Day 58 Comfort Food and Alternative Stress-Busters

I've been stress eating during the night. At least though, I've made healthy choices on the whole in this episode. And this morning I decided to just put it behind me and concentrate on eating healthily and accountably again.

Food stats today: Green Day Syns 85 calories 3352. The stress eating component was 56 Syns and 1589 calories. So if I'd just had a normal day's eating that would have been 1733 calories and 29 Syns, well within my desirable intake.

Today I decided after my night terrors I would make myself some winter-style comfort food, tweaked for counting calories! Both dishes were very successful and tasty. I was particularly pleased about the crumble as I had it without custard or cream or even crème fraîche. I love rhubarb - it is a gorgeous beautiful pinky red that just looks so jewel like. The other one was a classic leeks wrapped in ham in cream sauce. My cream sauce was made with semi-skimmed milk, cornflour and a couple of ounces of parmesan, flavoured with black pepper, salt & freshly grated nutmeg. I had both for lunch along with boiled fine beans and peas. Dinner was Tom Yum flavoured rice noodle stirfry with edamame beans, and pork patties flavoured with salt, black pepper, garlic, lemongrass, parsley, cumin, garam masala and dried mixed herbs.

Basically I am showing myself that it is possible to eat healthily and happily AND eat the things I want to eat, stress eating aside.

My midnight eating was a bacon & sliced tomato wrap, ryvita spread with butter & marmite, a couple of 20g portions of cheese, pre-wrapped, and rice noodle stirfry with pork mince & edamame beans with a splash of madeira. The last I know I was forcing down my throat :( Perhaps next time I feel upset and stressed out I will do a session of hand-weight exercises. :) Now that sounds like a plan!

Hmm - other alternatives:
Have lots of tea (wonderfully soothing and far less calories!) and do a pile of cathartic writing.
Go out for a walk.
Clean the house (very useful!)
Go swimming.
Do a few EFT sessions.
Listen to my Louise Hay affirmations.
Have a bubble bath and listen to music.
Listen to music and have a dance around the living room!
Play with the cat (she loves this!)
Call a friend.
Watch a film.
Do some painting & decorating.
Do some gardening or go mess around at the allotment.
Go out to a cafe for a cup of tea (change of scene and people-watching is fun)
Go to the library.
Go to the museum. (I like the Natural History & Pitt-Rivers better than the Ashmoleon)
Go to the Art Gallery.
Try meditating.
Go for a cycle ride. (Get that bike fixed!)
Go whack some balls up at the driving range.
Make a vision board.
Do a drawing or a painting.

I like that last one. I think part of my unhappiness last night was being reminded of how much I loved to draw & paint when I was at school, and that I don't do it at all any more.

Yes. More art. More beauty. More inspirational stuff! More tidy and clean house! More exercise. All good. :)

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