Emotional Eating

I wonder. Who doesn't have emotional eating issues? Is there really anyone out there healthy enough about food that they don't eat when emotional?

I want treats when it's been a bad day. I want treats to celebrate a good day. When I'm having a bad day, I want to eat all day. Chocolate. Chips. It's a good thing we don't keep those things in the house anymore.

Max has a really bad relationship with food. It's sad. I mean, he's only 6. However, he eats for so many reasons that do not have to do with hunger. He eats to get his share. He eats - gorges, really - because he's not sure he'll like the next thing that is served. If there's a treat, he eats until someone stops him. Literally, he'll keep eating while clutching his stomach.

In addition, he eats whenever he's feeling emotional. When we were going to see his therapist, they had snacks for the kids there. He was always digging into his snack bag when things got rough.

Davan and I went on a trip - just the two of us - in October. Anthony and Max were going to drive us to the airport. Max sat at the counter that morning and ate breakfast for something like 45 minutes. He had a banana, smoothie, toast with peanut butter and more. It was time to go. Max was still sitting at the counter. He started wailing, "But I'm hungry! I need to eat!"

I got down on his level and told him that he was wanting to eat because he was having feelings about me leaving for a while (we'd worked that out the day before after a week of really shitty behavior), not because he was hungry. He wailed over the top of me, "I'm hungry!"

I told him that I knew it wasn't about the food. I knew he was going to miss me. I was going to miss him, too. Then I gave him a handful of pistachios to keep in his pocket. I don't think he ever ate them. After all, he wasn't hungry and he got distracted by everyone leaving the house and all the commotion.