What to do about wanting to eat when stressed/upset etc

flowerfae

Full Member
I'm a bit of (well ok .. BIG) comfort eater. Especially where chocolate is concerned.

My eldest child (he's nearly 5) has Autism and can't communicate very well so he has (what we call) screaming sessions. He's just now gone to sleep after having one of these for 2 and a half hours non-stop. We have two other children (a 4 year old and a 11 month old) who were wanting to go to sleep but couldn't because of the noise so both of us have been upstaires between the three of them, and even me and my hubby started having a go at each other (not good I know lol)

My nerves are shot and I would kill for a big bar of chocci and a glass of wine but... I'm not going to let myself, I've just had a couple of small crispy squares (from morrisons and they're 2 1/2 syns each and a couple of mini flapjacks which are 3 1/2 syns) but I think I went a bit over my allowance (as I used most of my allowance for extras with sunday dinner) I think its only by a couple of syns, if I curb them to the minimum syns that we're allowed for the rest of the week would I make up for it? I need to get out of this wanting to eat sweet things when stressed though.
 
I would say forget it, use flexible syns and if you manage to cut back on syns over the week all well and good but don't strive for it otherwise you might feel restricted and go off the rails. If comfort eating is on the cards then what about some fat free fromage frais mixed with an Options sachet and fruit- gives you a chocolate kick but low in syns and takes considerably longer to eat than a flapjack or crispy square.
 
I have an eleven year old son with profound learning difficulties so I know how stressful it is when they get so upset but can't tell you what's wrong. I just can't bear it when he's crying and I've no idea why.

With regards to your extra syns, if you cut down on your syns for the next couple of days you should be fine. I normally save up some syns for the weekend so that I can have a bit of a drink (a big bit sometimes) and I still lose weight. Sometimes I can get through 20 to 30 syns worth of drink on a Saturday night but as I normally only have about 5 syns a day I'm still way under the 105 maximum for the week. So you should have no problems with the 12 extra syns you've had.

Comfort eating is a big problem and I don't know what to suggest. Perhaps there is something that is low in syns that you love that you can have each time you want to comfort eat. Eventually you will get used to that and then crave it. After going to the gym I am always hungry but I started to force myself to eat an apple instead of something bad. Now after the gym I crave an apple. However, with the stress you are under you will probably need something really good for comfort. You've done brilliantly to only have had 12 syns worth. If I'm feeling down, I treat myself to a huge bowl of fruit covered in a Muller Light yogurt. No syns but very filling and yummy.
 
My personal favourite is the white choc (2.5 syns)- tastes just like a milky bar yogurt. The mint choc is lovely as well (2 syns). I've been toying with the idea of using an ice cube tray to freeze it into little blocks of 'ice-cream' but haven't tried yet so don't know if it would work.
 
Hope you are able to relax a bit now. I love nuttella spread thinly on scan bran.
 
Hiya well... I'll be going to the shop today to get mullerlight yoghurts to stash lol.

His eye is all swollen today, he rams his fingers into his eyes when he gets stressed (his dr said its a stimulation thing) but he scratches his eyes so they all swell up, we've said to him that if he does that he's going to have to have eye drops again to make his eyes better...he understands the word 'eye-drops' but not why he has to have them. blimmin kids lol

Is your son verbal TeresaTT? Bradley does talk a bit since he's being having alot of speech therapy but most of it is single words and babble. When he's stressed its entirely babble.

Thanks everyone :)
 
Hi flowerfaye. My son bites his hand when he's upset or angry and he breaks the skin sometimes. He has a permanent callous on his hand now. He used to lash out and bite scratch and pull hair and some of my furniture has deep bite marks in it. He's no where near that bad now but his poor hand is suffering.

He's non verbal as mentally he's only about one. We've had some success with PECS which is where he gives us a picture of what he wants but he only does it for things he really wants such as food. I also use Makaton sign language with him which helps him to understand what I'm saying but he has difficulty doing the signs himself. His co-ordination is poor just like a young toddler. He can do a few signs like please and bread.

My friends have autistic children and they have quite a lot of success with visual timetables. These show the children exactly what is happening throughout the day with pictures or symbols and reduce a lot of anxiety. You have to persevere for a long time with these but once the child understands what it's for it is extremeley helpful to them. My friends also use Makaton sign language and their children are learning to do it themsleves. This also helps develop their speech.

Does your son have learning difficulties and is he at special school or mainstream?
 
I've done a PECS course,, its just a matter of getting things together, although they're supposed to be doing some things with him in school so will have to see where they are upto when the children go back next week (him and his sister are in the same class) he is in mainstream school with 1-1 support full time (that was a fight getting lol) he is in the middle of the autistic spectrum, the school that the children are at is very small - there are 7 children in his class and its perfect for him the staff are fantastic. He'll probably be moving to a special school or a school with autism unit attached when it comes to going to high school though. He doesn't have a learning difficulty but he has a severe language delay which is going to be lifelong. We only got his official diagnosis before the summer holidays started, but it was very obvious before then so it wasn't a shock.

We have a picture schedule for him though and he loves it :)
Is your little boy in special school or mainstream? and do you get support with him? we have a social worker who comes to see our little boy she works for the children with disabilities team and she's brilliant.
 
just a postive note about asd - you will improve with age by developing several coping mechiasms - obvious always going to be difficult but the more insight and ways to deal with the autism the better quality of life.
 
Your son's school sounds wonderful. Only 7 in his class is amazing. Here disabled children in mainstream have to cope in large classes. Have you tried Makaton sign language with him? I have a friend with a very bright autistic son but with speech difficulties. He signs very well in Makaton and it has helped his speech to develop.

My son is at special school and is starting a special secondary school next week. The specials schools are really great and I get involved as much as I can. I'm governor at both schools and help out with the parent staff association. I'm also very lucky and get a lot of help from social services. I have seven nights a month respite and direct payments for carers to help me. Do you get any respite?
 
no we don't get respite... he's only 5 though (well will be on wednesday) and I don't think I'd feel right about him being away yet. Is your son ok with changes like starting a new school or do you think there will be a few problems?

There isn't really anywhere that I know of that teaches Makaton around where we live (we're in north wales) I went to Liverpool for the PECS course.

My husband gets the Carers allowance, he lost his job in June and as Brad is a daddies boy, hubby can do more with him then I can, we've decided it best that I go back to college to do a access course into HE then I work full time. I'll be starting the week after next. And he stay home with the children :)

Sounds great what you do with the schools good on you :)
 
Sort of in answer to the original post, I did find something that may be suitable, its not very low syn, but Ben & Jerrys Mango Berry sorbet is 17.5 syns for the whole tub and something about eating it from the tub seems work for my binge attack, usually after about an inch I feel fully sweetened out and have to put it back in the freezer.
 
lol brilliant ...17 syns isn't as many as I'd of thought for a Ben and Jerry's ... I'd of thought about 30 lol

Well done for putting it back :p
 
Firstly wanted to say, I take my hat off to you mummies with ASD children, I find it hard coping with my boy and he's just a bit hyper!

Secondly, I'm terrible with binging when I'm down, I completely went to pot this weekend, but am back on (again!) today.
I think one of the nicest things i've had in a long time is strwberries, covered in vanilla muller light, is was gorgeous, definately enough to satisfy a sweet tooth x
 
Sometimes when you need a chocolate fix nothing but real chocolate will hit it! Something a consultant told me a while ago is that if that is what you really want then it is sometimes best to have a 'treat'.

I know I have been in the position before where I try to be good and deflect the craving by having a HiFi bar, and then a packet of low fat crisps but the craving is still there so I give in - and instead of having 10/12 syns having something I *really* want I eat 20+ syns trying to make good choices first and then having what I wanted in the first place anyway. Your crispy squares & flapjacks probably came to about 12 syns - for which you could have had a curly wurly and a small glass of wine or amaretto & coke/ bacardi & lemonade etc.

Not that I am saying you should always give in to cravings - but if you have the syns there and you really really need it then take the time to sit down and savour the flavours and the yumminess knowing you are still in control.
 
My son isn't too bad with changes and he will probably adjust to the new school pretty quickly. My friends son is autistic and is moving schools with my son. She is dreading it as her son hates any changes and she's expecting a lot of challenging behaviour at home which is where he usually vents his frustrations.

I am amazed that the speech and language therapists haven't tried sign language. It's pretty standard here. So many of the disabled children here can sign to varying degrees and many are developing speech. My friends have said that their autistic children's behaviour improved so much when they started signing. At least you have had the opportunity to do PECS but it's a shame you had to travel so far to do it. Do the school use PECS as well?
 
Hi, yes they're going to start using PECS with him, we had a meeting with the LEA before the holidays and they were going to bring a PECS folder in for him, but there was a fire at the ladies office and everything got destroyed so I think they've had to re-order things... should hear after hols, I said we'd buy them but they said they'd get them for him :)

I spoke to a speech therapist a while back and she said she was thinking of starting up a Makaton class nearby if there was enough interest and that she'd get in touch... she hasn't though so I'm guessing there were not enough people wanting to do it. I'll have to have a look for courses.... but I'm sure its not as easy to learn as PECS is and it will be more then a 2 day course.

With regards to moving your friends son to a new school ... could they do it gradually?
 
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