Dear Morgan -- wow, I was coming onling to post a thread about what I learned today that I believe will help me with my FTS eating, AND lo and behold here you are describinb the same thing.....
I agree -- it's hard to work outside, take care of home, I have a 2001 car that I don't trust, and, yes hiccups in my plans, family stress....etc.....
and it all adds up to stress.....but today I learned some things about it...
You see my sister is a mental health therapist, and today she was in my local area to give a training to some social workers....she does that a lot, and she asked me to spend night with her in hotel about an hour away and go to the training today and spend the day together....so I did....and so in attending in the training, I learned and realized I have generalized anxiety and hypervigilance....and it's from some old issues and those issues are long gone/resolved, BUT the habit I have of generalized anxiety and worry about money, job, time, getting house stuff done, WEIGHT issues, HEALTH issues, really fuels my carb cravings....I think these things are called 'triggers'.....and I also have hyper vigilance -- PTSD -- from childhood issues of not being safe....and probably my line of work doesn't help either...in fact I was in a building last week that was being visited by protesters and they were pounding on a window where I was sitting, and we had to evacuate to a side of the building the protestors could not access.....then we spent 2 hours waiting to see if they were going to break in....etc....BUT I digress....
So talked about this stuff with sis at lunch today. Now while my sis is in that line of work, we haven't discussed this before....because well she's a sister, and she doesn't go around trying to treat friends and family, but just learning about anxiety, its symptoms and there are some great websites available to get general information.....I do not have extreme anxiety, but enough of it that it does trigger my carb cravings -- something I've always turned to for self-comfort....
So reading tonight I have learned some things.....to limit caffeine.....eat healthy.....get 30 mins of activity a day -- the experts say "control sweets".....but I remember when I was doing BEST on FTS this Spring I felt LESS Anxious, so for that reason -- even more than
weight loss -- DAMN that scale anyway :-) -- I'm getting back on FTS 20 carbs or BUST!!!
Also I'm adding a meditation time -- for me I'll get back to saying Rosary but there are all different ways/types of meditation -- like yoga, listening to music and thinking happy thoughts of pretty beaches etc......OH, and take some deep breaths at times....in through nose and slowly realease through mouth like a long sigh.......and some progressive relaxation exercises.....saw one place where it recommended to think of the word "LIMP" where you just remind your muscles to go lump and wow that brings some release from tension.....
So today I did tell my sis I'm going to work on the anxiety as a project....and sort of "do it yourself Elizabeth" plan, and I really believe this will help me with my carb cravings, and with adherence to the FTS eating....
So when I read your email, thought maybe these ideas might help you also....
Hug Morgan.....sometimes we just need more hugs....
