I had a lot of great feedback after last week’s column and lots of people asked for some help with the calculations. I actually have a form where you can fill out (still need to do the calculations) but definitely easier than trying to do it from the newspaper column. There are sites on the internet where you can plug in those numbers and it will calculate it for you.  Go to https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html .

We all know you gotta eat! After you get your calculation done, hopefully you know about how many calories you need per day. Then the trick is to make these calories as nutritious as possible. With some research and reading, you can find amazing tasting healthy foods and recipes. I have mentioned before, it’s not all about “skinny” and “fat.” I have seen very healthy “fluffy” people, and very unhealthy skinny people. You are what you eat. You put a lot of junk in your body, your body is not going to feel good and you are not giving your body the nutrients it needs. Have you noticed that when you eat a lot of sugary things, you only keep wanting more? Then you have comfort eating, also called emotional eating. It is a practice of consuming large amounts of food in response to certain feelings instead of being hungry. Experts tell us that at least 75 percent of overeating is caused by feelings and emotions. Food becomes your “friend.” Food is your friend, except when it becomes something to soothe your feelings. Most of the time, comfort foods are typically junk foods or high-calorie foods. So even being on a great healthy diet, when you use food to pacify your emotions, you quickly get into bad, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods.

Ask yourself this: “What are your eating triggers?”

Is it a stressful day at work, a challenging relationship, or stress at school, sports and maybe loneliness? To get a good picture of why and what makes you reach for comfort foods, write down when you have these episodes. Are these situations you can control? Or are these things you can avoid? Awareness of your feelings, your body and surroundings are so important to a healthy lifestyle. Too often, people just “are.” They reach for foods just “because.” They go one way, eat too much or they go on these crazy diets and do not eat enough, or the weirdest stuff which are not sustainable. No, it’s not easy. That is why there is a billion-dollar industry devoted to it. This quote by Jim Rohn says it all: “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”

Chin up, you can do this. Besides writing down, or using an app, when and why you eat, record what you eat throughout the day. The most successful people who have lost the weight, or are on a healthy eating habit and kept it off, are the ones recording what they eat. Even that you think you can remember what you ate, experience shows that most of the time there are a lot more calories you consumed but were not really aware of it. Unfortunately it is one of the greatest “extra calories” mysteries out there. One thing that happens a lot, try not to have high-calorie foods readily available. There is a lot more time involved getting in the car to get your comfort food than to reach in the cabinet, fridge or freezer.

After you identify your triggers, you have to find responses to a trigger. When you start to reach for food, try the following instead:

• Go for a walk or jog

• Read a good book or magazine

• Listen to your favorite music

• Take a bubble bath

• Do house work, yard work or any work you can find

• Call or talk to a friend

• Go wash your car

• Go exercise! Come to the YMCA or a fitness center, take a class or take a virtual class via YMCA360 or YouTube, or so many other online exercise options.

Who can resist nurturing our bodies a healthy way?

Ester H. Marsh is director of healthy living at the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA.