Trigger Happy

When I first started studying to become certified in Nutrition and Wellness I began a food journal. I would simply write down the date, time and what I ate. At first this seemed a little weird and I felt as though I had become one of these people that was neurotic about what they consumed. Let me clarify that I am not a calorie counter or a "dieter". I just choose to eat clean because it makes me feel good. If I want to indulge in a piece of pie or butterscotch pot de creme every once in awhile I WILL. Anyway, after feeling awkward and not sure as to why I was even keeping this journal it all became very clear. I looked back on 2 weeks of what I ate and circled the things I would not usually eat. Things like nachos, mozzarella sticks or half a pint of phish food. For the next 2 weeks I followed the same journal except for I wrote what I was feeling when I ate. Here comes my big AHA moment! I did the same thing and started circling the "crap" food and realized that my negative feelings or stress was my trigger. When I consumed almost a full pint of ice cream I had been on the phone with someone (they shall remain unnamed) who was causing a lot of emotional stress in my life. After being on the phone with UPS trying to track a lost package I ate almost a full bag of salt and vinegar chips. I was trigger happy. Oh how wonderful to eat your feelings! We have all done it. Bad break up. . .chips ahoy cookies. Crap day at work. . .cheese fries. My answer to this habit was to leave the house. Hit the gym. Walk the dog. Stay out of the kitchen unless I had some killer leftover clean eats in the fridge. If you are looking to clean up your diet I would so recommend this especially because I found that boredom is a trigger for crap eating (by crap eating I mean refined foods and saturated fats) as well. Indulge in things that you love in moderation :)

*Positivity is infectious