As the day winds down, my routine is to eat dinner between 5:00 and 6:30pm like millions of Americans. As the clock strikes 7:30 or 8:00pm and beyond, a familiar sensation starts to creep in, an old habit, a phantom hunger. My mind wanders to images of all the tempting food options available to me. What’s in the refrigerator? What’s in the panty? I often find myself imagining a quick trip to the nearby grocery or convenience store. The allure of instant gratification becomes irresistible and I cave, even though I know this habit is causing my clothes to fit tighter. I scold myself as I search the cabinets or the pastry aisle of the store for my fix of emotional overeating.
This was 15-20 years ago.
My journey towards overcoming emotional overeating began with the realization that these late night cravings (or morning, afternoon – they happened a lot) were not just about hunger; rather, it’s a complex tangle of emotions, habits and experiences. Cravings were a response to daily stresses, emotional highs and lows, and the exhaustion that accompanied my busy life and constant anxiety.
In my quest for weight management, I used to intentionally skip meals to “save” calories. I’d muscle through my morning without anything except coffee to suppress my hunger. That way, I didn’t feel hungry, and I thought I would save calories and balance out the overeating.
Unfortunately this backfired more often than not. Research supports what I experienced, finding that skipping meals generally leads to overeating later on. The hunger would catch up to me and I’d justify eating a bit more at meals because I had “saved” calories from skipping breakfast. Yet, I never felt fully satisfied.
This led to a cycle of nighttime snacking, which led to binging episodes at any time of day. I would justify the snacks and the growing portions, or, I would feel so consumed by my emotions that I was unable to see any alternative coping strategies other than eating. Eating was comforting.
What I wasn’t factoring in, was that at the end of the day, after a full day of juggling work and responsibilities, I was mentally overloaded and more likely to succumb to temptation. I didn’t care if it was a healthy snack; I was eating peanut butter out of the jar or indulging in two pints of ice cream in one sitting. Looking back, I can see now I could have simply eaten breakfast, for example, instead of splurging at night. But it became a cycle of restriction, overeating, guilt, shame and repeat.
This behavior caused gradual weight gain. I didn’t sleep well having eaten so close to bedtime. The stress of skipping breakfast and running on coffee and fumes made me cranky. This cycle had to stop.
Through intentional eating, mindfulness practices, and cannabis, I discovered a path that led me away from emotional overeating and towards a healthier, more balanced relationship with food. Here is the strategy I use, which is the foundation of CannaFit’s 12 week program to use cannabis to heighten our natural sensations to overcome detrimental eating habits.
INTENTIONAL EATING
Often, cravings happen because our body is undernourished due to skipping meals, unbalanced choices or lack of nutritional value. For the last 10+ years, in order to stabilize blood sugar and energy, I make sure my meals throughout the day are satisfying. For example, I intentionally eat protein, fiber and high-value fats throughout the day to stay as satiated as possible. I balance my meals and snacks with complex carbohydrates, natural protein sources, and plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, prioritizing foods found in nature.
Being full and satisfied from a day of intentional eating works so well that I don’t typically need a snack at night. If I am hungry I will eat, but since my body and brain are satisfied, this completely obliterates any cravings due to lack of satisfaction.
MINDFULNESS
Practicing mindfulness is the skill of listening to our bodies’ natural sensations of hunger, fullness, energy and satisfaction. To practice this skill, I began paying attention, taking notes, and journaling every time I experienced cravings or had a binging episode. My eyes opened when I started recognizing that my overeating and binges directly correlated to uncomfortable feelings and emotions I was having.
For example, I’d find myself at the grocery store, picking out comfort food, on the way home from spending time in an unsatisfying relationship. As I sat home alone with my go-to binge foods like ice cream, muffins, cookies and peanut butter cups, I noticed I was feeling lonely and longing for companionship. Food provided comfort to escape these emotions.
Initially, I thought I could “fix” this by being stricter with myself. I created rules about how much I could eat during the week, restricting and punishing myself for not being “good” or “normal”. For example, I’d be “good” and not binge on Mondays or Tuesdays, but by Wednesday I’d be overwhelmed with cravings due to self imposed restrictions and resume eating.
Ultimately, I watched my cravings increase as my stress level did. The more burnt out I felt, the more I would find myself binging on donuts and sugary sweets trying to find energy and motivation. Eventually I realized I was numbing feelings that I thought were wrong or shameful.
Recognizing these connections prompted me to challenge myself: could I simply feel the feeling or use a different coping strategy aside from eating, I experimented. I tried crying when I was sad. I practiced journaling when I was frustrated. I called a friend when I was lonely. My coach and therapist encouraged me to create new habits around these.
My first mindfulness strategies included:
- When I needed a break at work, instead of walking to the grocery store to binge on sugary foods, I went to my car and closed my eyes.
- When I got home from work famished, instead of going straight to the kitchen, I did a quick “down dog” stretch to reset my body.
- When I felt frustrated, I would journal or listen to music to move through emotions.
Over time, I accumulated skills of dealing with emotions and stress that weren’t food!
Part of that process was asking myself the question, “Do I really need something to eat right now, or do I just want to eat because that’s my automatic response to everything?”
My coach called it the “Wantser Monster” – that voice that pleads and begs for food to soothe an uncomfortable emotion.
This “wantster monster” helped me visualize and understand that my cravings, my appetite, and my desire for food could be manipulated by my emotions! This realization allowed me to begin to differentiate between hunger cravings and emotional cravings!
THE PAUSE
The “ah-ha” moment for me was when I discovered I could stop and take a moment, even two seconds, to ask myself what was really going on.
In CannaFit I call it “The Pause”: the moment between our thoughts and our actions.
When the idea of stopping at the store on the way home to pick up cookies crossed my mind, I practiced catching that thought and questioning it before acting on it. I didn’t tell myself “No”, you can’t. It wasn’t mean or strict, but simply curious…. “Why do you want that?” I ask myself.
If a craving for a sugary treat appeared in my mind, I trained myself to question how my body feels when I eat high sugar, highly processed foods. Especially in large quantities, sugary and “junk” foods consistently make me feel jittery, nauseated and ill.
MANTRA
As I began to practice the pause, and recognizing my cravings as either hunger or an emotion, I adopted a mantra that helped me accept this struggle and further overcome temptations. For example, one of the reasons emotional and stress eating is so challenging to overcome is that we still need food to live. Unlike other addictions such as cigarette smoking, we can’t quit eating altogether to avoid the situation. We must eat to live, which means grocery shopping, eating out and generally facing temptation every day.
My mantra was simple: “This is hard for me”. This became my anchor. When I would go to the grocery store, no matter what emotional state I was in, I would honor the struggle and my desire for soothing foods by walking through the store, past temptation and quietly say to myself, “This is hard for me”.
Repeating this allowed me to acknowledge the struggle but stay in my power and focus on food for fuel purposes rather than emotional purposes. I was able to separate my need for food from my emotional needs for food
CANNABIS
This entire process for me began in 2013 and I didn’t discover cannabis for another two years! When I started using cannabis one of the first things I noticed was how easy it is to check in with my body when I use CBD daily and when I consume THC mindfully and in small doses. I’m not stuck in my emotions. My goals and my body’s needs are loud, clear and attainable.
Cannabis enhances my ability to differentiate between physical hunger and emotional hunger by helping me tune into my body’s natural sensations of hunger, fullness, energy and satisfaction. I learned that all forms of cannabis, including CBD (which is non intoxicating), and THC, (which makes us “high”), help us connect our mind and body, and heighten our senses due to the way it interacts with the endocannabinoid system.
Instead of numbing and feeling outside of my body like I did consuming alcohol, I felt more inside of my body!
Currently, I take 30mg of CBD first thing every morning to remove anxiety and enhance my focus and clarity. I often take 10-20mg later in the day if I’m feeling scattered or unmotivated.
Most days, I consume THC in the later half of the day to relax, to focus on creative tasks, or both. THC and CBD together allow me to unwind and stay present in my body.
It’s easier to pause between my thoughts and my actions, particularly around food. For example, if my mind starts to wander to what appealing food might be available, I am able to capture that thought for a moment before acting on it. What used to be impulsivity resulting in trips though the drive though for junk food, or stopping at the store on the way home for “snacks”, has been replaced with intentional choices.
Cannabis slows down my “go go go” mentality and allows me to pay attention to each thought and action. If I’m tempted by food, I can take a minute to think through the decision by asking myself a few questions.
This has nothing to do with whether it is a “good” or “bad” food, it’s simply whether or not I need it at that moment and how my body will respond if I eat it.
When using cannabis I pause and ask myself:
- Am I hungry?
- Did I eat enough today?
- Am I having emotions or experiences right now that might trigger a craving out of comfort, boredom, habit, or nostalgia?
- Can I focus on breathing, journaling, reading or another activity?
- How will I feel if I eat this?
This is backed up by research showing that among all the benefits of cannabis is the ability to affect the way we think, seeing things in a new light, and enhancing our capacity to change.
Now you might be wondering “what about the munchies?”. These mindfulness practices are so powerful I don’t struggle with the munchies. As a cannabis coach and educator I’ve also learned how to select strains that don’t stimulate appetite, preventing the munchies.
Generally, sativas are less hunger inducing. Mostly, I’m simply examining terpenes of the flower I consume. I avoid Myrcene, for example, as it tends to stimulate appetite, and seek Humulene, which suppresses appetite. Additionally, CBD suppresses appetite so I make sure to add CBD to my THC so that it will reduce any feelings of hunger. Everyone’s bodies respond differently to cannabis, which is why there are so many variations and combinations. The secret is to find what works for you! In CannaFit’s 12 week program we do exactly that – we find what works best for you, so that you can overcome this struggle as well.
Cannabis healed me. Cannabis makes me brave enough to overcome unhealthy habits. Cannabis changed my life. I want this for you, too.
If you’re interested in more personalized or want to explore further, feel free to reach out to me directly at Beth@Cannafitnessnutrition.com. You can discover more about my comprehensive 12 week program, CannaFit, which helps you integrate cannabis into your fitness and nutrition for optimal wellness at www.cannafitnessnutrition.com.
