I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  My Christmas was really wonderful and I enjoyed spending it with my family.  Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.  Usually you can find me with a huge smile on my face and singing Christmas songs from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but this year was different.  I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Christmas day was lovely and great, but I was not as into the Christmas spirit the days leading up to it as I usually am.  Don’t know why.  Anyways, I hope that your Christmas was special and spent with all the people that you love!

Figure out how to calm yourself and relax.  When you are most stressed, it’s really helpful to be able to take yourself out of the equation and go to a more relaxing place where things are that bad.  If you have problems escaping to a calm place, try taking a yoga class or a meditation class that will help you focus and learn.

There are times when we stress out over things that we really have no control over.  If you find yourself doing this, remind yourself that you shouldn’t be stressing out over it because you cannot change the outcome.  It is what it is and all you can do is accept it and move forward.  Plus, there are tons of things that we are capable of changing, so why not put your focus on those things.

Always have a plan.  It doesn’t matter if you are trying to exercise more or just writing your “to-do” list.  Make sure that you always have a plan to look back on and execute.  It will help you to not get overwhelmed, binge eat, and to dissect each task one at a time.  A plan always makes things seem easier and more attainable when it is step-by-step.

Journal, Journal, Journal.  Always journal.  Write your good feelings and your bad feelings in your journal.  Use your journal as a way to escape from whatever is going on in your life.  Make a decision to write all bad feelings, emotions, and happenings in your journal and then leave it there.  Do not continue to dwell on anything bad.  Get it off your chest, put it in your journal, and move on.  Negative emotions that clung to me too closely always resulted in binge eating.  Always.

Make time for yourself.  No matter if you are in the role of mom, wife, caregiver to your dad, and an employee, make time for yourself.  You don’t know how many people email me that they binge eat just because there is too much going on.  They never have time to breathe, it feels like, or let alone time do get a manicure.  I know times can be hard, but always take time for YOU.  If money is low, tell your husband that you are going to take a bath and that no one is to disturb you… even if your bath is only 15 minutes, if will help.  Learn to give yourself some much needed time too!

Everything always seems easier when it can be broken down into smaller tasks.  It takes a lot of the overwhelming feelings out of the equation and opens your mind up more clearly to deal with the task at hand.  Stress is the same way.  You can deal with stress and end binge eating from stressful situations with a little practice.  

Right now there are so many worries from people.  There’s the economy, gift buying, the holiday season in which you should be all giddy with excitement, stress, and so much more.  Frankly, it’s hard to feel like it’s the holiday season… but I’m not writing this post to focus on the bad stuff and make you depressed.  Instead, I just want you to know that you are not alone in any of this.  I’ve talked to so many people who  just don’t feel “in the spirit” because of money.  Yes, money and yes, it can be depressing and the root of bingeing right now.  It can stir up feelings inside of you, worry, and stress and that can make you want to go and binge on anything and everything you can get your hands on.  I understand.  It’s tough.

Don’t let negative thoughts and feelings push you to the point of bingeing and giving up on all of your success or goals so far.  Enjoy the “free” things of this holiday season.  You know, the things that can put a smile on your face and take you away from the negative emotions you might be feeling.  Drive around at night and look at Christmas lights (one of my favorite things to do right now!).  Focus on what you are thankful for in your life.  Spend time with the people that mean the most to you (even if it means just getting together at your house instead of going out to lunch).  Learn a new hobby and make gifts from scratch.  Go for a walk.  

Don’t let this holiday season and all the stresses that come along with it get you down.  Do whatever you can to stay as far away from binge eating as possible.  Remember that you control the bingeing, not the other way around.  You are strong and can get through this tough time!  Hang in there =)

Dear Kristin….just thought you’d like to know that I can now have some of my favorite foods without finishing them! I don’t feel like polishing off the whole thing. I’m starting to be satisfied with less. What helped me to do this is repeatedly buying my favorite foods and always having them in the house. That way I learned that I can have them whenever I like. I got the idea from another eating disorder book, “Overcoming Overeating”, and I got the idea to get it from your section on recommending self-development.  It’s nice to know I’m not alone….in fact, it’s quite common, or there would be so many diet programs! I think half the people on those are binge eaters! That’s the reason the weight comes back on. 

As a book I have said “we made the food behave, but not us!”. Too true. 

It’s cool to have bread in the home, and have some left for tomorrow!  I recommend your site to anyone I know who even thinks of going on a diet (four letter word).  Also, another tip I learned from your book and the Overcoming Overeating one is to have lots of food lying around so I never get hungry! That way, there’s no desire to binge (although at first  there was). 

Thanks Kristin! 

This is a golf course.  Clearly Ike had it under water though.

Leslie, Susan, Shandy, and me getting ready to go to an exotic dance lesson for our friend’s bachelorette party.  Obviously, we were not dressed properly.

The “Fab 5″ reunited for a bachelorette party!

Rockin’ the side ponytail for the NKOTB Concert.  Oh yes, I’m cool like that. =)

New Kids in action.

Renaissance Festival.

It’s been such a long time since I last posted and I feel like my life has been a whirlwind since.  There was Hurricane Ike, scares with Buttercup, in-laws in town, going out of town, and the normal things like laundry, doing the dishes, etc.  Ahhh, sometimes it’s nice to just take a break from it all.  (You can read more about what’s been going on in my latest newsletter.  If you aren’t subscribed, do so now because the newsletter will go out in a few hours.)

I’ve definitely missed blogging and, most importantly, hearing from all my readers.  A few of you have found me on Facebook and have kept in touch with me there.  I know that many of you have sent emails…  I am in the middle of responding to them right now, so hold tight and hopefully you will receive a response soon.  

I can’t believe that it is almost November.  Time just flies by when you get older.  I don’t want to get into political talk, but can I just say how thrilled I will be on Wednesday when all of the political bashing will come to an end.  It’s been a tough election year and I’m ready for it to be over with.  

I know that my readers are all over the board when it comes to age, so maybe some of you will appreciate this (and others may not care), but I went to the New Kids on the Block concert about a week ago.  It was FUN.  I had mixed emotions about going.  I mean, they were my favorite band and first concert to ever attend, but c’mon I’m 28-years old, how much of a boy band could I take?  Well, apparently a lot because it was a blast!  They sang all of their great old songs and it was so fun singing along.  The place was packed with screaming girls my age.  It was insane, but oh so fun!  If you were a fan back in the day and have the chance to go, I do recommend it (and I know that Vanessa will too).  

I’m off to (hopefully) play tennis with my husband now.  I will be back to posted regularly tomorrow and about binge eating.  Thanks for taking the time to read this and leave me a comment - I miss hearing from you all!  

Have a great day!!

Thanks for all the great emails about how we are doing - I really appreciate that.  I’ll be going through all my emails tomorrow and I can’t wait to get back to normalcy!  Yay!!!

Talk to you tomorrow,
Kristin 

I’m sitting in my neighbor’s driveway right now, borrowing his computer to type this message.  Hurricane Ike hit us hard…  R and I are okay.  We will not have power for 2-4 more weeks (Awful, I know!).

I have an eCourse lesson that is due today and there is no way to get it out to anyone.  However, within the next few days (hopefully) my parent’s will have power and we will be moving in there temporarily.  I will have Internet access there.  Please bare with me - I know that you want your lessons and I will get them out as soon as I have power again.

I will update you on how this hurricane was…  It was creepy and really scary and we have tons of pictures that I will post when I have access to my own laptop.

Thanks for your understanding - I appreciate it… and keep us in your thoughts that we get power back ASAP!!!

Love,
Kristin

It was nearly impossible to find a flashlight today.  We went to 5+ stores to try to find flashlights.  Finally we found one at Radio Shack.  Thinking about it then, we would have paid $100 for just one of them.  They were that hard to find…

Anyways, keep us in your thoughts and hopefully we don’t lose power.  The news said to prepare for a loss of power for about 5-days, so we will see. 

I have my camera ready to snap some pictures if any opportunities arise, so I’ll be back after Ike comes and goes.

Not sure if you’ve ever wondered about the topics that I choose to blog about - where they come from, etc., but lately, I’ve found my “inspiration” from the emails that you write me.  It’s nice to be able to help a few people with the same question all at once.

The latest, most popular question has been about alcohol and binge eating disorder.  When anyone (with binge eating disorder or not) has some alcohol, your guard gets lowered.  Perhaps you were doing great with eating healthy and cutting out your binge trigger foods, and after 2 glasses of wine, you find that those french fries do in fact look yummy and that one will not hurt.  

This happened to me a lot when I was bingeing.  I would be so proud of myself a certain day because of my eating, then the phone would ring, an invitation to happy hour would be accepted, and on the way home I would stop and get fast food.  Just about every single time.  I felt like such a loser because I couldn’t control my willpower.  Have you ever felt like this?

Clearly the most obvious solution is to give up alcohol, right?  If you feel like abstaining from wine, liquor, or beer would suit you best, do it!  It will really help curb those unwanted binges and I’m sure that some pounds will melt away too.  You will feel better and not be tempted as easily.

However, if you are like me and happen to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner (not every night, just to clarify!), then here are some things you can think about so that you end it with your one glass:

1.  Make sure not to overdo it.  Don’t binge on food and alcohol.  Have a drink and call it a night.

2.  If you are the kind of person that can exercise at night, do it instead of snacking.  Personally I’ve never been able to go to sleep when I exercise late in the evening, so this option never worked for me. 

3.  Before you start really feeling the alcohol, ask yourself if it is really worth it.  You might want a glass of wine with dinner, but if that one glass leads to another and another, how will that affect your weight, your bingeing, and your overall feeling about yourself?  

4.  Go for an after dinner walk with your pet, significant other, or friend.  Make the decision to only have a glass of wine with dinner and no more after that.

5.  Think about how not drinking will really help your bank account… When you pair that with curbing future binges (due to alcohol), you will have saved some money for sure!