Pick Your Prescription

A couple of months ago I posted a blog about my trip down my career memory lane. I was cleaning out files and found handouts I developed in the ‘80’s and early 90’s. Many of them are still relevant today and I shared one of them, Noncompliance Excuses, in that post.

My next treasure I would like to share with you targets your emotional health. We have different ways of coping with our emotions, and many of us use food to deal with the issues. But what if you could prevent or lessen the issues that drive you to eating? It is not easy and it doesn’t come overnight. Managing emotional eating takes practice and patience but it can be done. You can start with self-care by looking at the bigger picture rather than the smaller problem at hand. And just as you have prescriptions for high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, there are prescriptions for your emotional health. These prescriptions are not available at the pharmacy, grocery store, liquor store, or online. In fact, you can’t buy them anywhere so the monetary cost is free. But it will cost you time to reflect on what you are thinking, what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what can you do differently.

So my friends, here are your Prescriptions for Emotional Health. There are 10 prescriptions for you to choose from. I don’t recommend trying to do all 10 at the same time because that would be too overwhelming. Pick one and practice it. Say it out loud in the morning before breakfast, and repeat as needed during the day. Be sure to give yourself another dose before bedtime. Use it for as many days as you need it. You can’t overdose. You can do your own refills. You could also share this prescription with your family and friends. Keep the list handy in case you need to switch to another prescription when situations change, and they will.

I have an article in my files, “I got to goal, why am I still not happy? The short answer…because weight was never actually the problem.” Your weight is a symptom of the problem and taking better care of yourself emotionally is a prescription to help treat the problem.

Eat Smarter…
Vicki Bovee, MS, RDN, LD