From the beginning...

Today's tip- For god's sake, call someone!

I spent the weekend mindlessly amping up my sugar intake. A cookie here, a cupcake there, a cookie there and there and you get the point. At the end of the weekend I realized I was suffering a bit of depression.

While I try to keep an eye out for signs, I am not always successful until I am a couple of days in and a pattern has emerged. This weekend the weather, combined with a general belief that I must be repulsive to men, created the perfect sugared storm.

It was at the laundry mat yesterday that I was reminded of a good trick, whether depressed or not, to combat mindless eating - call someone. When you are craving the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, pick-up the receiver and phone a friend. If the first friend isn't available, just keep dialing. By the time you finally have a conversation, even if it is of no substance, you will likely have forgotten about or at least lost the craving for whatever demon you wanted to face down.

I did it when I realized I was going to be in the laundry mat longer than I expected. (Everyone was washing their undies yesterday.) I called six people and left messages before stumbling across an out-of-state friend. He's handsome and intellectual and by the end of the conversation I was thinking about many things, but none of them were food.

He even helped dissuade me from the belief that I am revolting, he assured me it was quite the opposite. He also reinforced my mother's belief that perhaps I scare men a bit. Not like jump out in front of them, but apparently my strength scares them. (Wimps.)

So, the next time you are looking at caving to a craving, grab the phone and use your mouth for something other than a garbage disposal. And if you chat up the right person, you may get a bonus ego boost!

Yours in (mental) health, Kate