Month: December 2016

  • How to Improve Your Communication With Your Daughter

    How to Improve Your Communication With Your Daughter

    Communication is something you should have with every child, but as a mother, the connection might fail you a little bit at some point in your daughter’s life. Here are some helpful ways to improve communication and leave that door open for talking at any stage in her life.

    Never Judge Your Daughter

    It is crucial that your daughter knows you are never going to judge her. If she thinks what she tells you is going to be faced with ridicule, she is going to start keeping things to herself. Girls want acceptance and approval from their mothers exceptionally, but both of her parents as well. She doesn’t need you to agree with everything she does or says, but it is important that when she does open up to you, you try to see her side of it and not present her with a lot of harsh judgment.

    Try Not to Be Too Emotional

    This is important for girls of all ages. When you are trying to get your daughter to open up to you, you might do it by asking her specific questions. It’s okay to ask her questions and see if she wants to talk about something. But, try to keep your misgivings or emotions out of it. Even if you are happy, sad, or upset, don’t let that be the focal point. If you do, she might be less willing to share with you because of how your emotions will react when she tells you things.

    Show That You Are Flawed

    Sometimes, girls don’t open up because they think they are the only ones experiencing certain things. This can be anything from having trouble with friends, failing in school, having boy problems, or having certain personal body image issues. Show your daughter that she isn’t facing these things alone and that you are also flawed and have a lot of different things you deal with. Don’t complain about your body image, but show that you understand you aren’t perfect just like nobody is. This helps your daughter not feel as left out and can help a lot with her communication.

    Stay Away From Loaded Questions

    Sometimes to get your daughter to open up to you, you need to ask her questions about certain things. However, if you try to ask her serious, loaded questions, she might become even more withdrawn. Instead of that approach, try to ask her more curious questions. Act like the topic isn’t a big deal and that you aren’t trying to make any assumptions. If you do this, she might be a little more willing to open up to you.

  • Emotional Overeating & Your Weight

    Could Your Weight Gain Be the Result of Emotional Overeating?

      Weight gain is frustrating enough, but when you can’t seem to identify the cause(s) of it, the frustration is compounded. Emotional overeating is a somewhat sneaky problem – because it can involve mindless eating, it’s the sort of thing that can occur without you realizing it. If you are having trouble figuring out what’s causing your weight gain, here are some tips on identifying emotional overeating (as opposed to just overeating).  

    Seemingly Unexplainable Weight Gain

    If you are gaining weight and you can’t seem to figure out why this is (ironically) a sign that the problem may lie with emotional overeating. As noted above, you often don’t know you’re doing it when it comes to emotional overeating. You may even be working out regularly and preparing healthy meals and still gaining weight because you are mindlessly eating other foods when you feel negative emotions.  

    A Sudden Urge

    Sources say that emotional “hunger” comes on quite suddenly, perhaps in the form of an irresistible craving for a certain food or just the urge to eat right now. True hunger is usually more gradual than that – unless you have low blood sugar or have gone a very long time without eating, true hunger does not usually take the form of an urgent need to eat a whole lot right away.  

    Depression

    More and more the connection between emotional overeating and depression is being discovered. Do you feel depressed periodically? When you even think of feeling depressed, what goes through your mind? How do you cope? If you are picturing a big serving of your favorite comfort food, then this may be a sign that your overeating is emotion-based.  

    Stress

    Are you going through a stressful time in your life simultaneous to your weight gain? Have you seen that pattern before? Stress, with its accompanying anxiety and other negative feelings, can trigger someone to overeat in response to those feelings.  

    Guilt

    How do you feel after you eat? Are you consumed with guilt? Do you feel ashamed? These feelings are signs that you have a problem with emotional overeating. Normal eating to satisfy normal hunger does not make a person feel guilty.  

    Specific Cravings

    As many parents know, genuine hunger usually means that you’re more open to various food options. In emotional overeating, though, cravings may be so specific that no other food will do to satisfy your “hunger.” You feel like you have to have that particular food to feel satisfied.

    emotional woman overeating