[CyberTOPS] Oprah and Emotional Eating (good read)

[Reynoldssusan5]

I can relate to Oprah and my heart goes out to her, also. Just also shows us that fame and fortune do not cure all.

TOPS hugs,
Susan R
VA#736, Carrollton



In a message dated 01/03/09 01:19:00 Eastern Standard Time, puppy-raiser at hotmail.com writes:
If you haven't heard yet, you will soon-it's everywhere in the media. Oprah 
has disclosed that she has regained weight she worked so hard to lose and that 
she now weighs 200lbs. My heart goes out to Oprah-as well as to the millions 
of women who struggle just like her. Today, on a morning news show, I watched 
two reporters banter back and forth about what they believe she should be 
doing to reach and maintain a lower weight. They discussed their certainty 
that slower weight loss, smaller meals, and more frequent exercise are just 
what Oprah needs. They rattled off new behaviors they think she could easily 
make permanent if she would just follow their advice. My husband just shook 
his head at them knowingly as my reaction started to show on my face. 
It's not about the food. 
I can't imagine how painful it must be to have the world discussing your 
weight struggles. As of this morning there were 830 articles on Google about 
Oprah's newest admission of weight gain and I have no doubt that the number 
will more than double quickly. 
It's not about the food-and Oprah knows that. I've never spoken with Oprah, 
but I have worked with enough clients struggling with weight and food and 
emotional eating to know that Oprah almost certainly knows all those food and 
nutrition and healthy eating tips. Oprah knows how to exercise and Oprah knows 
how to lose weight. Oprah knows about the ways the body itself can make weight 
loss difficult (I understand that she also struggles with thyroid problems 
which can create havoc with metabolism, weight and energy levels). Oprah knows 
what she "should" be doing and Oprah might even lie awake at night beating 
herself up when those "shoulds" don't come to fruition. That's part of the 
vicious cycle. Unfortunately for Oprah, she has an audience of millions as she 
succeeds and fails and takes missteps. 








Oprah is a very savvy woman with incredible power and extensive resources. She 
has accomplished amazing things. If this was easy, don't you think she'd have 
crossed this off her list long ago? It's not simply about knowing nutrition 
and exercise facts. Oprah knows that. Oprah acknowledges that she struggles 
with emotional eating. 
Emotional eating is about using food for needs and feelings and situations 
that really have nothing to do with a physical hunger. Emotional eating is 
about turning to food because you don't know what else to do or because the 
habit is so ingrained, that emotional cravings have become indistinguishable 
from physical hunger. 
Nutrition and weight loss facts are an important part of the weight loss 
equation, but they aren't the whole equation. If emotional eating is an issue 
and it isn't addressed adequately, any diet or food plan will ultimately fail. 
Most weight loss plans neglect the issue entirely-or-they point out the 
problem of emotional eating (like it is a character flaw) and warn the dieter 
"to avoid it." What emotional eaters need to know is how to avoid it and what 
to do instead. 
When we approach weight loss without taking emotional eating into account, 
we've failed before we've started. No diet in the world is going to help us 
cope with tough emotions or situations. No food plan exists that will help us 
face stress or loneliness or boredom. Learning to identify our emotional 
hungers and respond to them without food is a skill that diets don't address. 
Perhaps the worst thing is that when we approach weight loss with a recipe 
that is missing a crucial ingredient and we don't know it, we feel like 
failures when the recipe flops. When the diet (that never addressed the 
dieter's emotional struggles with food) fails, we blame ourselves. We feel 
guilty and ashamed and awful about ourselves. And with weight, the struggle is 
all too visible. There is no place to hide. Especially for Oprah. 
My hope for Oprah, and the millions who struggle just like her every day, is 
that they have the courage and the time and the space to take a breath and 
form a helpful game plan-a game plan that encompasses a lot more than calories 
and food choices. 
Emotional eaters thrive and succeed with a game plan that is individualized 
and that honors their unique relationship with food, their vulnerabilities, 
their needs and their strengths. My hope for Oprah and all emotional eaters is 
that they are working with someone who is able to help them step back from 
their frustration and shame and self blame and approach this issue with a 
helpful dose of creativity and curiosity. 
There is a way out of the emotional eating trap, but shame and guilt and 
self-blame will slam the door in your face. I hope that Oprah has a coach or a 
mentor who is helping her honor the strengths and the abilities and resources 
she already has and is guiding her in creating new tools and ways of coping. 
I hope that Oprah finds a solution that lasts, both for her, and for the many 
who also live with weight loss struggles and who wake up many mornings mad at 
themselves and feeling hopeless and like they've failed. Whether she likes it 
or not, the world is watching. I know that Oprah knows that her struggle is 
not only about food and that focusing on the food is much too superficial. I 
wish that all the people commenting on it and covering the "story" did too. 
)Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. All rights reserved.Suzy Zabel - LeaderTOPS MD #423 
Westminster, MD Dieting is like riding a bike, either you are moving forward, 
or you're falling off. If you are a Christian and would like to receive a 
daily dieting devotional, go to: 
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DevotionsForDieters/?v=1&t=search&ch=web 
&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Send e-mail anywhere. No map, no compass. 
http://windowslive.com/oneline/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_anywhere 
_122008 
_______________________________________________ 
CyberTOPS -- Where Friends Meet for a 'Net Loss' 
http://www.cybertops.net/index.htm