You’ve eaten your meals for the day.  All is well.  Then…there’s that sensation. Hunger.  But, are you hungry…or sad?  Do you want a second helping…or do you want to feel less anxious?  Do you want to eat something…or is something eating at you? Learn a strategy to hold down eating when hunger isn’t the issue.

STOP – BREATHE – REFLECT – CHOOSE

This four step process, outlined in The Wellness Bookby Herbert Benson, MD and Eileen M. Stuart, RN, M.S. is an effective stress management technique easily adapted to manage emotional eating.

What is emotional eating?

Emotional eating is using food as a coping mechanism to manage difficult feelings. It doesn’t necessarily mean satisfying a sweet tooth craving or eating an extra helping of your friend’s baked pasta. The difference is the emotional motivation underlying the urge to eat. For example, do you simply want an extra helping of fantastic tasting food, or do you feel anxious and are desperately trying to calm yourself?

Emotional eating gains momentum by an often frenzied response to overwhelming feelings. Difficult feelings are more easily managed when you’re able to pause andreflect on what you’re experiencing. The following strategy helps you create spacebetween your initial thought, and subsequent behavior, of overeating. You then regain control to make a conscious choice. This helps you manage your emotions in a self-loving way rather than through compulsive overeating which usually leads to self-loathing and guilt. Read the rest of this entry »

Diets rich in fat seen as dangerous.

Catholic.org reported that Women over the age of 50 who consume a diet rich in fat face a far greater risk for strokes.”It’s a tremendous increase that is potentially avoidable. What’s bad for the heart is bad for the brain,” Dr. Emil Matarese, stroke chief at St. Mary Medical Center says.

A recent study has found a 30 percent greater risk of stroke among women eating the most trans fat, found commonly in fried foods, crackers and cookies.

Results of a study at the American Stroke Association conference revealed that women who ate the most fat had a 44 percent higher risk of the most common type of stroke compared to those who ate the least. The study involved 87,230 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative.

There were reported 288 strokes in the group of women who consumed the most fat each day (95 grams) versus 249 strokes in the group eating the least fat (25 grams).

The study also found a 30 percent greater risk of stroke among women eating the most trans fat, found commonly in fried foods, crackers and cookies.

Women before menopause traditionally are at a much lower risk for stroke that men of a similar age. After menopause, the risk of stroke rises and the gender advantage disappears.

This has all changed with national obesity rates and increasingly poor diets.

Doctors recommend that more women look at labels to see how much fat is in their food. “This is a simple way that any woman, especially postmenopausal women, can improve their health. Simply avoiding fried foods is a big one,” one researcher says.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting fat to less than 25 to 35 percent of total calories, and trans fat to less than 1 percent.

The average British woman risks her health and looks with a make-up bag four years past its use-by date, researchers say.

Out-of date beauty products can be a magnet for germs but most women have no idea that EU rules mean brands have to state an item’s bathroom shelf life, according to a new poll.

Past their ‘use-by’ point, make-up items carry a risk of irritation and infection due to contamination by bacteria, according to Debenhams, which surveyed 1,000 women.

Around nine in ten did not know make-up comes with a ‘period after opening’ sign – an open pot icon showing the number of months it can be used safely – did not understand the symbol or could not read the often tiny writing. [Source]