Conquering Cravings by Managing Anxiety

Cravings are incredibly frustrating. I've worked with many clients and students who share that they do terrific with weight management, only to succumb to cravings that seem to undo all their hard work otherwise. Cravings are especially challenging when they're frequent, intense, or both.


We've already talked about how to beat the cognitive distortions of cravings, and I hope you've found those tools helpful. Today we'll take a look at how anxiety can overlap with cravings, and consider what you can do to conquer your cravings by managing anxiety.


First, let's clarify how anxiety is different from stress. Stress is the body's response to a situation you perceive as challenging or threatening. It's often defined as the fight-flight-or-freeze response. In other words, you believe you're in danger, so your body automatically prepares to either fight back, run away, or freeze. When you're stressed, you're thinking, "How will I handle this?"


In contrast, anxiety is worrying about things that aren't happening. In fact, many (even most!) of the things that anxious people worry about never come to pass. Anxious people are inordinately fond of "What if...?" thoughts.


Personally, I'm not one to stress overmuch. When things are actually happening, I'm usually able to marshal my resources and manage situations. I often find situations many people find stressful to be fun, rather than scary.


Instead, I tend to be an anxious person. My relationship with cravings changed dramatically when I learned about anxiety and began taking steps to better manage it. In fact, discovering and managing my anxiety all but eliminated the sense of dread and panic I'd often experience in the mid-afternoons, which would then lead to intense cravings.


So, if you tend to worry about "What if..." questions, or if you've noticed that you have intense, powerful cravings that 1) aren't related to seeing or smelling food, 2) happen frequently, especially if they tend to happen at the same time of the day, 3) are for what you consider to be "comfort food," 4) are associated with feelings of dread, panic, or fear, you might benefit from exploring whether your cravings are related to anxiety.


Dr. Edmund Bourne's excellent book, "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" is a terrific place to start. This book provides a tremendous amount of information on ways to manage anxiety, ranging from self-esteem to cognitions to self-nurturing. You can find more information on his book here. If you check out the book and work on managing your anxiety, don't forget to stop by and let us know what you try, and how it goes! :)

Bust Stress...Every Day!

 

Feeling stressed lately? It's that time of year. Cold weather, taxes, the fun of the holidays behind us...Even though February is a short month, it can seem like the longest month of the year. So, today I have a short-but-sweet stress-busting suggestion for you.

 

Are you ready? It's simple: Practice self-nurturing every day, whether you're stressed or not. This tip works on two levels. Practice builds confidence, and makes it far more likely that you'll think about using a stress-buster when you most need it. And breaking out stress-busters when you're not stressed lifts your mood for hours afterward.

 

Are you ready to become a skilled stress-buster? First, make a list of your three favorite ways to nurture yourself and bust stress. Choose things that require between five to thirty minutes. (I put Crescent solitaire, reading, and controlled breathing on my list.)

 

Got your list ready? Great! Now insert your list into the following SMART goal:

 

I will _________________________________________________________________,

 

______________________________________________________________________,

 

and __________________________________________________________________

 

once a day, for seven days. At the end of the seven days, I will re-evaluate my goal. 

 

As you're working toward your SMART goal, keep track of how nurturing yourself every day with your stress-busters makes you feel. At the end of seven days, use that information to decide if you'd like to continue with self-nurturing every day. Don't forget to come back and tell us how it goes, and what you observe! :)