HOW TO STOP OVEREATING AND OVERDRINKING IN QUARANTINE

Click here to watch the video on getting control over your overeating and overdrinking while in quarantine. Here are some reflective questions that will deeply increase your self awareness and your ability to make conscious decisions about what you eat and drink instead of just reacting to and being controlled by all of your urges and desires to escape emotion:

1. Practice observation. Here’s what this looks like: “I notice that I’m experiencing a craving right now. I notice a strong urge to go get a bite of something. I notice physical discomfort in my body because I don’t have something to chew on/sip on/scroll through right now. I notice that I really want to stop what I’m trying to do right now and go eat or drink something. I notice that I have a strong desire for alcohol at the end of the day to unwind or relax or help me feel less stressed.“ Notice what you’re experiencing. Notice patterns. Notice tendencies. Notice habits. Notice reflexes.

2. Observe the effects that these urges, patterns, habits, and tendencies are having in your life. What result is your constant desire for distraction through food or drink (or something else) creating in your life? Employ compassion and love for yourself as you do this: we’re not condemning ourselves, we are simply taking stock of what our life looks like right now as a result of the habits we’ve developed. We can assess how we want to move forward with love rather than judgment and self-criticism.

3. Understand your urges: do you know why you crave certain things? Do you know why your urges are so strong? Do you know why eating sometimes feels like a life or death decision? Do you know why you get anxious when you even think about eating less each day or not having a drink in the evening? Do you know what excuses you typically rely on to justify doing things that produce net negative results in your life?

4. Feel your feelings: when you experience strong urges, you’re trying to escape an emotion. What is that emotion? Identify it: maybe it’s boredom, despair, grief, panic, sadness, stress, worry, anger, fear. Whatever it is, it is running the show from the shadows, and you need to bring it out into the light, you need to ask it what it’s here to tell you, and you need to give yourself space to feel it before it can move on.

5. Ask yourself: “What kind of relationship do I want to cultivate with my urges and my desires that produce net-negative results in the long term, and how can I start showing up in this way now?” How can you show up for yourself in a way that helps you observe, feel, process, and release your emotions rather than avoid them with outside stimuli?