Are You An Emotional Eater?-If So Help Is Here! (Bach Original Flower Essences Emotional Eating Kit)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	Bach Original Flower Essences Emotional Eating Kit
Date:	18/06/09 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really work as long as you are aware of the triggers for emotional eating.

Disadvantages: Expensive

I think the product I am about to review may be something to consider if you are someone who is prone to eating more of the fattening foods, when under any kind of emotional pressure, or when you are simply just tired.

What I am going to do in this review is tell you about the product first, but them concentrate more on my experience of using it, which will hopefully be of help.

Bach Flower Remedies date back from the 1920s and 1930s where they were made by a homeopathic doctor. Edward Bach was his name and he believed that the mind was so crucial to the wellbeing of the patient, and that even in the face of serious physical illness making the mind more at ease with itself could have a huge impact on the outcome of the disease itself.

We know this today as many cancer sufferers have gained enormous support from places such as The Cancer Centre in Bristol where alternative therapies run along side conventional treatments. This is so important as patients then feel they are in control.

I have been a user of Bach Flower Remedies for many years, taking them for moments of stress. I have Rock Rose, for moments of extreme terror (dentists in my case!) Aspen, Mimulus and Rescue Remedy for general stressful events. The latter were really useful to me when my mother suffered a stroke and I was at her bedside.

Now as there are 38 individual remedies it is possible to buy them individually for use for different feelings and situations, but this does need expertise to get it right. There are books to help you and superb websites such as www.bachremedies.co.uk .This particular site has a brilliant quiz which asks you some questions, and will then suggest remedies to suit you.

Now recently Bach has made a new product called The Emotional Eating Kit which contains a collection of three essences, Crab Apple, Cherry Plum and Chestnut Bud. You can buy this from them as well as many other websites, and I actually bought mine in Boots where you can find it near the supplements and herbal remedies area. It is £9.95 which is actually excellent value, as to buy these individually would be at least a third more.

Crab Apple is for when you dislike yourself, and it helps to accept your size and shape and who you are, imperfections and all.

Cherry Plum is there to help you think clearly and rationally, especially well if you see that cream donut calling you in the afternoon.

Chestnut Bud allows you to learn from all the times you break the diet, and repeat the same patterns of behaviour which lead to weight gain.

The essences are alcohol free, and you can either add the drops to water or I often just drop them onto my tongue.

The packet looks absolutely lovely and is decorated with apple blossom and is dinky enough to slip inside those tiny summer handbags.


So to my opinion.
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Firstly I must explain I don't diet any more, I did, and I have, but not any more. I have M E and this means I can't exercise, so I have to be very careful what I eat. I am a vegetarian, and eat healthy home cooked meals, but I love a piece of cake and chocolate regularly. When I was younger and in my 20s and 30s I was mid range in the BMI, but as the inactivity cause by my illness together with 4 babies, a miscarriage, and years of being 40 something, I very gradually crept up to the upper limits of a healthy weight. Not overweight, but just at the upper end, so I had to develop a strategy for keeping it stable if I didn't want to follow my genetics and expand. All my family before me were large, very large.

I did join Slimming World for a while and it was successful, but I didn't enjoy the regime I felt I was on, and all the yogurts were getting me down as I ate so many yogurts and jellies and fruit it was becoming boring. So eventually I designed my own plan which was formulated after a long hard look at the times my weight gained a little. This was always due to three things.

1. Period time- podgy premenstrual me craves naughty foods and even though I am 49 I am still in all this, and I will always go for these foods the week before.

2. Upsets- these are inevitable for most people, and for me it's been quite few years, first my son emigrating, then mum having a stroke, and now my father faces major surgery for cancer. These events are when I would normally eat for comfort. I know most people do at one time or another, and for me at least I can't go off and swim 50 lengths to get all those endorphins and happy hormones to combat depression so this would be my biscuit reason.

3. The autumn and winter. I suffer from SAD and winter is a bad time because I crave these foods more.

So with this knowledge I looked at other things I could do to stop blossoming. I worked out that my failings were too much cheese, portion sizes too big, cakes and fruit juice, and so I just cut back on these, and then I bought these essences which I take whenever I have any of the mentioned situations cropping up where I would normally have something to eat.

I also made a file of really healthy quick meals so that when at the hospital visiting mum or dad, I could return home tired but rustle up something instead of heading down to the chippy.

I am not someone who eats entire packets of biscuits or anything like that, but because I can't exercise I have to watch these foods carefully, and this is where these essences have been a godsend. They actually work. When I find myself feeling a bit low I take them and I don't reach for a biscuit so often.

They taste really nice, very different to the remedies for fear and anxiety which actually taste like a sherry, these are actually pleasant and sweet.

I have no idea if this is actually the essences working or not. I know that they stop me from making unhealthy choices, but I also know that I have worked out the reasons why I ate more at certain times, which I think is critical to this, because buying these alone will not shed pounds, and will cost a lot of money in the process.

I think they are part of the backup and support we all need to keep a healthy weight, and to their credit I have certainly found them to be of enormous value.

I have found them also to be of tremendous help in two other situations when I would normally pile on a few pounds. Travelling is one, I do a lot of this and it is so easy to make all the wrong choices here especially on long car journeys. Also and in the afternoon I find it often gets to that 4pm time when you could really have a little snack, and here they are brilliant because I have a cup of tea and some of these, and I can easily forget the call of the chocolate!

I think they are well worth the money, and I would recommend them to anyone as long as you see they have to be seen as part of a weight maintenance plan.

Summary: A product really worth trying.