explain xkcd:Editor FAQ
Negative emotions hurt, they feel bad. Lumaslim We humans don't like them and we want them to go away so we have devised ways of doing that. Some people attempt to stop the self-inflicted pain using alcohol, some use drugs, some self-harm and others attempt to stuff down the feelings using food.None of these methods work. When the effects of alcohol and drugs wear off the user feels even worse than before. When the self-harmer has been to hospital and been stitched up they feel even worse than they did originally and when an emotional over eater's binge is over he/she has added to the original anger, misery and frustration that made them reach for the food in the first place.
There are two ways of dealing with the emotions that cause emotional overeating. The first way is to wait until you are in the situation and then try to change the way you feel in the moment. With lots of practice and the right tools you can learn how to do that but that's the hard way and I wouldn't recommend it.Before I came to North America I had never heard of the freshman fifteen. Perhaps we called it something else over the pond or we were just too financially distressed to eat. Then, after thirty years I decided to return to University: was I in for a nasty surprise.
After my first semester I started to notice the pounds coming on, unconcerned at first I carried on until I got on the scales at the end of the second session to find myself fifteen pounds up. I thought, "oh my goodness the freshman fifteen!" The trend continued until at the end of my first year I was a full twenty-five pounds heavier. I was horrified. I tried everything to shed the weight with no luck so I decided to monitor my behavior to find out just why this happens so quickly. I chatted with much younger students and many reported the same story. I had no idea how common this was.
