[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month, Khalea gave up fried food. This month, Michelle is going to come face to face with stress eating. Can she stop the emotional ice cream binges? We'll find out....]

Ah, June. You have been a month to remember. Between trying to stop stress eating, trying to get back into working out, dealing with entering a long distance relationships and looking for a job, I’ve encountered a lot of pressure from many different directions. Along the way, I’ve written some pretty heavy articles here on CollegeCandy about confronting the reasons for my (and maybe your!) stress eating. Have I always been successful in trying to stop stress eating? Most of the time. Can I claim that I stopped stress eating completely? Not really. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month, Khalea gave up fried food. This month, Michelle is going to come face to face with stress eating. Can she stop the emotional ice cream binges? We'll find out....]

The first few days

The past weekend was one of the worst weekends I’ve had in a while. I will admit to crying about 75% of the time. Several times, I called my lovely boyfriend on Skype only to immediately start crying at him through my computer. Trust me, crying into a keyboard while your boyfriend stares at your blurry webcam video is the least helpful form of communication for a relationship.

Since I started this challenge, I have struggled with one fundamental question: Why do I eat instead of feel? It’s a good question. Why do some people do drugs, or drink too much? Why do some people compulsively shop? What makes us neurotic?

I enjoy food – I really do. Since I write the Intro to Cooking column here at CollegeCandy, I obviously enjoy food. But sometimes, I use food as a crutch. Anxiety is something I have always dealt with: I feel a great deal of anxiety when it comes to school, but also in relationships and dealing with people. When I e-mail someone and they don’t reply for a few days, I don’t get annoyed with them; I get anxious that they’re mad at me. A lot of this has to do with my own insecurity and my incessant need to receive assurance that I am a good, capable person. But a huge part of it contributes to my stress eating. Instead of asking someone to reply to my e-mail, or telling people, like my boyfriend, that I need more reassurance, I eat.

But why don’t I allow myself to feel real emotions?

Whenever I have a crying spell, I usually end it by putting in on of my favorite movies and eating something with carbs (a sandwich, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, garlic bread…) I don’t really allow myself to just cry. Eating forces me to use my mouth in a way other than contorting into “ugly cry face” (I am a victim, kids). A movie draws my attention away from my feelings and into a different world.

On Monday, I found myself standing in my parents’ kitchen holding three graham crackers coated in a generous layer of Nutella. I ate all three in about two minutes. I didn’t even give myself a chance to think about it. It was my first “cheat” – my first crack. I started to wonder if I could ever stop stress eating.

Immediately, I sat down to work on this article. I began to wonder, again, why I don’t allow myself to fully feel my emotions. Being emotional – that is, really feeling emotions fully – is uncomfortable and generally not very fun. Can I help myself to stop stress eating… by forcing myself to feel uncomfortable? Will it make me happier to stop stress eating… or will it make me unhappy?

What Works?

⦁       Talk it out. It really helps to have someone to talk to. Recently, this has been my boyfriend. Hearing his voice when I’m having a crying spell, or having him reassure me that I will get a job and that I’ve always made the right choices when it comes to my career, is the greatest comfort ever. Being able to tell him exactly why I’m upset forces me to really, really feel my feelings – rather than hide in my bedroom and eat them away.

⦁       Yoga? Okay, I’m gonna shatter some worlds here. Yoga is nice. It’s a nice way for me to start my morning. After my incident with the graham crackers Monday, I tried to do some yoga… and I ended up just getting really cranky about it. The last thing I wanted to see was a woman in a pink spandex jumpsuit doing yoga on the beach. It helps to relax me in the morning and generally keeps me relaxed… but if I’m already stressed, I want nothing to do with it. So yoga is a mixed bag for me right now.

⦁       Staying conscious. I got this idea from a friend. How often do I realize that I am eating due to stress versus actual hunger? Do I sometimes confuse my anxiety with hunger (or, do I justify my stress eating as legitimate hunger)? Society teaches us that we should keep our emotions in check – how many books have been written about women crying in the workplace? – so it has become easy for us all to hide our real emotions. Staying conscious of how we really feel about things can help us stop stress eating, seems to be my logical thought. Part of this, for me, is journaling. Writing down what I feel, when I feel it, and potential reasons for it, helps me get back in tune with my real emotions… so I can feel them, rather than eat four pieces of peanut butter toast.

Final Thoughts

A huge part of this challenge for me is increasing my self-awareness. As a writer, I tend to be very observant of others and the environment around me, but not necessarily of myself. It is difficult to re-learn how to look at yourself, and how you feel and think, all in one month. This isn’t going to be a month-long process, just a one-month glimpse of a longer battle.

For the past week, I have been on edge – without my regular stress eating sprees, I’ve been forcing myself to actually feel, or to at least think things through thoroughly. But I don’t want to just force myself to feel, I want to address what it is that makes me choose food rather than my own thoughts. By confronting what it is about really feeling that I want to avoid, I will be able to more easily stop stress eating, because I’ll be addressing the larger, underlying issue. What is it about feeling emotions that makes us uncomfortable? And how can we change it?

If you’re taking on this challenge with me, how’s it going for you? What has been your greatest difficulty? How have to dealt with the temptation to stress eat? 

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month, Khalea gave up fried food. This month, Michelle is going to come face to face with stress eating. Can she stop the emotional ice cream binges? We'll find out....]

Stress eating – who doesn’t do it? Comfort foods have come to define college life. Macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, peanut butter anything… And honestly, how can you not like comfort food? I mean, it’s called ‘comfort’ food for a reason. When you’re stuck at home studying for a test and it’s 2am, mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of ice cream tastes delicious. Stress eating can take its toll though – digestive problems, weight gain, lowered self-esteem… It’s not good for anybody.

For the month of June, I’m going to try to stop stress eating. You know what that means? No chocolate chip cookie at 2pm when I’m feeling drained (but not hungry). No candy snack at the check-out in the grocery store. No crunchy potato chips when I’m browsing Craiglist at night and wondering what I’m going to do with my life. No eating when I feel an unpleasant emotion… I guess I’ll just have to, you know, feel it.

This week, we’ll look at what stress eating actually is and what steps I’m going to take to curb my stress eating.  Anyone who wants to can take this challenge with me, but you are free to choose your own methods and goals. I will be completely honest for the next month: when I’ve succeeded, when I’ve failed, and most of all, what I’ve felt along the way. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. And this month Meredith is giving up junk food. Yes, really. Her first week was good. Great, even. Then life got in the way. She began turning things around last week, and now it's time to see what this month taught her.]

It goes without saying that this month didn’t go according to plan for me, but interestingly, I think I learned a lot more than I had originally expected.

I created this challenge for myself, as I stated in week one, to figure out a way to cope with my problems that didn’t involve eating junk food. Going in, I was struggling with boyfriend and family problems that had been causing me to eat random sweets that I’m not sure I was even enjoying. I wrongly assumed that this pattern would continue. Instead, I lost my interest in food completely when my boyfriend and I broke up.

This has been such an interesting journey for me in so many ways, especially because I went through different phases throughout the month. I started with a sweet tooth, then I transitioned into a complete distaste for any food, but now I am accepting the fact that I have to work food into my daily routine. This is why I will not be giving up junk food again. I have a very different perspective on it now, mostly because now I’m not dreading my cravings. They are what they are, and if I make the right choices most of the time, those (wonderful) moments with mozzarella sticks won’t be such a big deal. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. And this month Meredith is giving up junk food. Yes, really. Her first week was good. Great, even. Then life got in the way. This week, she's turning things around.]

I ate mozzarella sticks. And I’m not ashamed.

Not much has changed since my tough week last week. I’m still adjusting to the single life, which I love more and more every day.  The nausea is the only thing that has really persisted, which means that I will unfortunately probably have to see a doctor just to make sure that nothing is medically wrong with me. Though I’m convinced it’s nothing more than the residual effects of Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Ew, I don’t even like thinking about it. Even if she was wearing a lean protein.

So finally on Tuesday, I felt up for a late night snack at the dining hall. The good news is the mozzarella sticks smelled like heaven. The bad news is they definitely did nothing for my post-breakup bouts of nausea. I could have sworn that they would have healing powers, that I’d take one bite and instantly feel happy and free and content. But alas, I woke up the next morning as sick as ever. I’m definitely not mad at myself for eating them, though. If everything this month had gone according to plan and I was eating like Jillian Michaels every day, then I probably would be pissed at myself for eating disgusting fried cheese mid-month. But, that’s not the case and if anything, I needed the calories. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month we followed Ariel as she went a(n almost) full month sans Facebook. This month Meredith is giving up junk food. Yes, really. Her first week was good. Great, even. This week, though, life sorta got in her way....]

I had a vision in my head for how this month would go. I would give up junk food, be healthier, maybe slip up once or twice, but succeed overall. I would end the month being skinny, beautiful, and confident. My life situation would remain the same; it would be ME that changed.

I made a very big lapse in judgment. As Knocked Up taught us, “life doesn’t care about your plans.”

My boyfriend and I broke up Saturday night. I WOULD publicize all of the fun details, but Destiny’s Child put it best when they said, “You know I’m not gonna diss you on the Internet, cause my momma told me better than that.” Now, before you start to pity me, don’t. I am much happier and I have so many amazing people around me constantly. I adore being single again (some think maybe even too much…).

But I do have a confession. My friend and I ate some ice cream on Saturday night. The truth is that it didn’t make anything better, obviously. We ended up walking four miles that night on our quest for lots of fresh air, which, in my opinion, cancels out the ice cream. Judge for yourself. I immediately was junk-food-free again on Sunday. Read More »

This post provided by college nutritionist, author, and all around excellent source of healthful info, Melanie Jatsek.

Do you eat when you’re not hungry?  Sure, we all do to some degree!  Food is one of the necessities of life, but it’s also a source of comfort for those times when you are feeling sad, stressed, homesick, angry, or [insert emotion here].  This occasional indulgence usually isn’t a problem, but when you start responding to every emotion with food it becomes a problem in more than one way.  Can you say weight gain and feelings of zero willpower?  You did just eat that entire bag of Lay’s Potato Chips after all!

It’s time to stop beating yourself up.  So you slipped up and let your stress get the best of you – so what?  Forgive yourself and move on.  But what if it happens again, you ask?  What are you supposed to do the next time you are struck with a bout of good old-fashioned homesickness?

Follow the three steps below to learn how not to eat your feelings. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month we followed Ariel as she went a(n almost) full month sans Facebook. This month things are getting even crazier. Yes, Meredith is giving. up. junk food. Oy.]

I will be the first to admit that I put on some unwanted pounds this summer. Towards the end of August, I was having some boyfriend troubles and was coping with the fact that my dad was getting married in about a month. Because of this, I ate. To name a few favorite treats that I indulged in, I ate funfetti cake, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, fruit snacks, Cape Cod potato chips, Starbursts, Chili’s Chocolate Molton Lava Cake, and many other delicious things.

And it was good.
But no more. For the month of September, I am GIVING UP JUNK FOOD.

I Googled “junk food” just to see what I’m dealing with and the first definition that came up was, “food that tastes good but is high in calories having little nutritional value.” I’m going to stick to that for my definition. No more cake, ice cream, cookies, gummies, chips, pizza, cheeseburgers, frappuccinos…basically anything that contains empty calories. The idea is to do more than merely give up junk food, though; it’s to adopt a generally healthier lifestyle. I’m going to try to introduce more whole grains into my diet, drink more water rather than Coke Zero (one of my many horrible addictions), and work out more. Basically, I’m going to take every aspect of my life, then ask, “Would my hero, Jillian Michaels, approve?” God, I love her. Read More »

There have been countless instances where I’ve found myself shoveling nachos, ice cream or third helpings of dessert into my mouth. Realizing my own utter gluttony, I’ll drop the spoon or the cheesey chip and think, “What in god’s name am I doing?” Because the truth is I’m not even hungry. I’m bored or annoyed or just craving something that has nothing to do with food.

It took me years to identify any of this as emotional eating. I think because almost all of my girlfriends experienced the exact same thing. We’d even declare Sunday as the “Day of Eating” which made it OK to binge on the “bad stuff,” i.e. s’mores, pizza, bagels with cream cheese, to list a few. And the next day, of course, we’d all be at the gym, furiously working off the excess calories.

Looking back, I see how incredibly unhealthy and unbalanced this was. Yet, so many people turn to food to comfort themselves. In order to forget feelings from sadness, anxiety, loneliness or boredom, they reach for high-calorie, sweet, salty and fatty foods. And usually, they wind up eating way too much, which of course contributes to weight gain and guilt.

The good news is, all of us can regain control of these habits and get back on the healthy path. Read More »