[Hollylane]

Originally Posted by Miss Scarlett

It's interesting isn't it? This close connection between our emotions and eating.

There's a flip side to stress eating and I haven't seen it mentioned here...stress not-eating.

Has anyone experienced this?

When I am upset, I cannot eat, when I am happy, I want to eat. The not eating causes absolute havoc on my body, which already has problems getting the right nutrients, or even digesting foods that it needs to fuel it. With constant nausea (gastroparesis), I'm expected to eat 5 small meals a day (my gastro doc refers to this as eating like I've had a gastric bypass, which I have not), and most days, I can barely get the interest up for one meal. On the happy scale (pun intended), I want to eat the foods that do not nourish me, and my body cannot digest. The parts that I am at fault for, and the one's my body causes, both deliver the same results, my body goes into starvation mode (undigested food/not enough food), and stores everything it can as fat.

When Gaige and I vacation together, I always know how it will end. Yet I do it anyway, every single time, eating the things that she can eat without problems, and ending up sick for weeks after our visits.

I really need to work on the happy bad eating, and the frequent meals (despite my nausea). Sometimes my dieter brain (the one that has fadded out for years), talks me out of frequent meals, because it feels like grazing. See? Work is much needed in these areas.

This week, I'm going to work on getting enough of the right fuel, and try to get down to the pool as often as possible. I love swimming, it is a perfect exercise for me, and I'm hoping that I can get up the drive and energy to make it happen.

I've been doing well this week, with lots of extra walking and the right foods, I've dropped a few pounds this week, but mostly inches. Either one is fine for me, as far as my health is concerned.