Question of the Week: How Can I Nurture Myself Without Food?
Whenever you limit your food, you are taking away some of your ability to nurture yourself. Unless you are the kind of person who feels nurtured when you are starved, you probably get some satisfaction and warm fuzzy feeling from eating. We are hard-wired to feel good when we eat, so if you are limiting your food, how are you going to nurture yourself? That’s what this week’s question is all about:
How can I nurture myself without food?
What are the non-food activities that I can give myself?
What are the non-food rewards that I can give myself?
When I usually eat, how can I replace my usual treat with a non-food treat?
Make yourself a huge list of fun things you like to do that have nothing to do with food. You might surprise yourself at how varied it is. Did you used to like to draw but haven’t let yourself draw in a long time? Then reward yourself three times a day with some drawing time instead of food. If you are limiting your food intake, your body is going to start feeling neglected. Give yourself some nurturing without food and that feeling of deprivation will be abated.
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February 19th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Non food treats Books walks
February 20th, 2007 at 8:56 am
browsing is as good as reading
February 20th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I think the hard part is nurturing yourself at work w/o food….work can be stressfull and I usually cant just get up and take a walk or read a good book….
February 21st, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Here’s a short list of things that come to mind that I like to do, that make me feel ‘nurtured’.
I am often tired when I come home from work (get up at 5a to start the day) and have found if I sleep when I am tired I don’t have that urge to raid the frige.
Turn up the heat, and the music, I love to dance around the house.
I love to rent movies and watch them on my laptop, sitting in my cozy love seat.
Cleaning out almost any cabinet/closet or small area makes me feel good. I like to have my closet all ‘arranged’ and straigtened up so I can see everything just right (best done after laundry).
I like to brush my hair and wash and condition it w/ my favorite conditioner.
I love facial masks and like to get my husband sit w/ me while I give him a facial.
February 21st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I try to run at least 6 miles each day. It doesn’t make me feel nurtured, but it reduces my stress level and makes me feel like I’m in control of my life, which takes away my desire to feel nurtured.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:40 am
I love a good bubble bath. Just to put scented candles around the bathroom & crate my own spa atmosphere with soft music. I hear that there is some advantage to using Epsom salts.