What is it about long drives?

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else out there has a difficult time eating intuitively

when they are

on a long drive? For some reason, anytime I have to drive more than an hour, my

mind

turns to food.

Of course, before Intuitive Eating, my mind turned to food all day, every day.

But since I

started trying to eat intuitively a few weeks ago, I am doing much better with

only eating

when I am hungry. However, I have had to make some long trips in the past week,

like

about 6 hours long, and I found I had much more difficulty eating intuitively in

that

situation.

When I am at home and I think about eating something, if I realize I am not

hungry, it is

easy to distract myself. I can pick up my knitting, read a book, take a nap,

record my

thoughts in my journal, call a friend, or post to this group! :-) But what do

you do when

you are driving? I don't know if it is stress or boredom that causes me to start

obsessing

about food. Maybe it is both. I do know I am acutely aware of feeling really,

really bored. I

live in the boonies of Maine where we have to worry a lot more about moose on

the

highways than cars. It is much less boring to drive on a busy city highway. In

that case,

the stress makes me want to eat!

After the boredom sets in, it is followed by a feeling of being extremely

sleepy, even if I

have had a good night's sleep. I wonder if driving stresses me out and messes up

my

blood sugar? Does anyone else have this problem?

Yesterday I had a good breakfast before my trip, but 2 hours after breakfast, I

was

stopping for a coffee and donut to wake me up. And later, about 2 hours after

lunch, I was

stopping for an ice cream cone to help me stay awake. I was feeling bad about

it, because

I knew I wasn't really hungry. The only good thing I could say about it was

that, thanks to

Intuitive Eating, I had only one donut instead of my usual two, and I had an ice

cream cone

instead of the hot fudge sundae I would have had in the past.

I have tried books on tape, but for some reason, they get on my nerves after a

short while.

And music doesn't seem to distract me enough either.

Does anyone else have trouble eating intuitively when they are on a long drive?

B.