I recently posted an entry about beans and I brought in a video from a Mel Brooks’ picture, Blazing Saddles. Let’s make this “Mel Brooks Week” and today’s entry will first discuss another one of his very funny movies, High Anxiety. This flick spoofed a bunch of Alfred Hitchcock movies, including Vertigo (in that movie James Stewart was very anxious about heights) and the very scary film, The Birds. In Mel Brooks’ version however, the birds did not attack people…they pooped on them (see the very funny video below).
Let’s get serious now and focus on anxiety and weight control. First, what in the world do any of us need to feel anxious about? The answer is PLENTY, including:
- Anxiety about our new pandemic world
- Anxiety about getting sick
- Anxiety about inflation and the impact on our lives
- Anxiety about our children and grandchildren flourishing in this pandemic world
- Anxiety about supply chain issues
The list can include hundreds of more bullet points.
So, why do so many people (including me) turn to “stress/anxiety” eating as a “solution” to the anxiety? The simple answer: High caloric/high sugar foods and alcohol will provide a temporary “feel-good” that attempts to offset the “feel-bad” that accompanies anxiety.
Intellectually, we know that the factors making us feel anxious will not disappear if we eat a Three Musketeers bar. Conversely, the weight gain that occurs cumulatively due to stress/anxiety eating makes us feel more anxious because in addition to everything else making us anxious, now we need to contend with the weight issues.
Try to take a few second delay in stress/anxiety eating behaviors to think through the situation. By allowing the intellectual part of the brain to supercede the instinctual part of the brain compelling us to eat those derailing choices.
We all have enough in our lives to feel anxious about without adding on poor weight control and the accompanying medical co-morbidities. Stop that anxiety/stress eating!
And for some laughs, enjoy Mel Brooks take on The Birds