I know this may sound cliche (and maybe just too easy) but one thing I have always suggested for emotional eaters is to journal feelings. I suggest it because those who do it are much more successful  mastering their emotional eating! Negative feelings frequently occur because specific needs are not  being appropriately met. By making this self-realization a person can gain more control over any kind of emotional eating (stress, frustration, boredom, anger, etc.)

When you truly understand what you are feeling through writing  you might also also note any patterns that might occur. For example do you find you always eat when you are overwhelmed and stressed? How can you get your needs met better or how can you diffuse the stress in an appropriate way? Do you find that you always eat in specific situations with certain people? By exploring these things in a food diary and/or along with your feelings you can figure things out and take some steps to actively change your eating behaviors.

For more direction with emotional eating and writing you might try reading the Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size by Julia Cameron. She's got some  inspiring insights of what others have discovered and some specific writing techniques which ultimately helped them overcome emotional eating.

The bottom line is if you self-sabotage your dieting efforts because of any kind of emotional eating you need to address the feeling behind the eating regardless of how you find the correlation.

A good example of a level one exercise to master is the "plank." It's a powerful static exercise to engage your entire mid-section and tighten your waistline.

After you master the plank I would move onto an exercise called a "chop." This adds a little bit more of a dynamic movement where you're resisting rotation and as a result strengthening your core.

Once you master both of those you can try a more challenging traditional ab exercise called "reverse crunch" or leg lift.

Although I don't believe you need to do crunches or sit-ups to get great abs you should be more balanced through your core and lower back after mastering the previous 3 exercises and will now be more equipped to safely handle these types of crunching movements.

We've all heard that it takes 20 minutes for our stomach to tell our brains that we are full and this study is another way to reinforce that. When we eat slower the hormones in our gut have the time to be released and then report to our brains that feel full and then we'll eat less. Eating too fast will not allow our bodies to experience this and more food is eaten - leading to excess calories and weight gain.

It can be hard to slow down and eat when we are in such a fast paced society, but here are some tips to help you slow down...

Don't eat in front of the tv, computer or while reading

Set up an environment where you feel relaxed while eating

Put your fork down between bites

Chew your food completely

Don't eat in the car or on the run

What tips do you have to help slow down eating?

But  just how do you do it? Face the challenges head on, step by step, day by day, challenge by challenge and get help if you need to. So even if the upcoming holidays seem so full of temptations  remember you really can be successful. Act as if failure really is impossible because it is if you believe that.

“Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured. Wipe out every thought of your not achieving your objective, be brave and set no limits on the workings of your imaginations. Never be a prisoner of your past, Become the architect of your future…and you will see that nothing can stop you.”  - Author unknown

Every time you do a sit-up or crunch you are flexing your spine and potentially putting your back at risk. This doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t work you abs, but there is a right way to do it to stay safe.

One tip I like to give my clients is to choose an abdominal exercise to complete first and then immediately follow it up with a lower back exercise. That way there you will strengthen both the front and back of your mid-section and create a healthier and stronger core.

In my next post I'll show you 3 ab exercises to work your way up safely from beginner to advanced!

Static Bridging:
• Hold for 30-60 seconds
• Rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times

Dynamic Bridging:
• Lift your hips off the floor and then lower them to 1 inch above the floor completing 10-15 “up and down” repetitions
• Rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times

Dynamic Ball Bridging:
• You can use the same form and technique as the static or dynamic bridge except you are keeping a stability ball under your shoulders and head while completing the exercise
• Complete either variation on the ball and then rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times
• You can keep your arms by your sides, overhead, or folded across your chest

Enjoy the bridging workouts and feel free to add them to any warm-up or use them at the end of a workout when you’re exercising your ab and core muscles!

Can you lose weight on this diet? Well, yes...and that is because you'd be consuming anywhere from 800-1000 calories a day. Those low numbers would help anyone lose weight placing this diet into another one of our culture's quick fixes for losing weight. It also helps "legalize" the cookie which is usually a forbidden food on most diet plans.

Critics of the diet don't feel this is a good way to go because when you cut calories below 1,000 calories day you can have potassium deficiency, gallstones, heart palpitations and other health issues and it never leads to long lasting weight loss.

Here’s how to complete the bridge:
1. Lie flat on your back
2. Pull your feet into your hips
3. Lift your hips high off the ground into a full “hip extension”
4. Squeeze your glutes and hold for 30 – 60 seconds

Tips to remember:
1. Keep your feet, shoulders, and head flat on the floor
2. Make sure to keep your feet under your knees and not too far out in front of you
3. Breathe naturally throughout the exercise
4. Concentrate on squeezing your glutes together and lifting up
5. Start by keeping your arms by your sides stretched out straight – eventually you can fold your arms across your chest

This is an example of how to do a “static” bridge where you are not moving up and down. It’s the best way to start to activate your glutes and hip muscles. Once you advance up you can get into more dynamic bridging movements. In my next post, I’ll be back with a bridging workout you can do 1-2x a week!

Here are the study details:

After participants of this new study followed a walking, rowing, or jogging program for 3 months the Department of Cardiology in New Orleans were amazed at the results. Researchers from this study also believe that the exercise helped to decrease stress in participants with heart conditions, which in turn lowered their mortality risk significantly.

The researchers have noticed a connection that stress can quadruple your chances of an early death if you have a pre-existing heart condition. Personally, I think 30 minutes 3x a week is a fair trade of your time for the positive benefits you can get from exercise. Are you currently getting 30 minutes of exercise 3x per week? If so, what are you doing?

Source: The Department of Cardiology in New Orleans, American Journal of Medicine