Stress versus Anxiety

I'm an all-occasion overeater, really.  I will celebrate or console myself with food anytime, anywhere.  Give me a gift of food and I will eat it because it's there.
But I'm beginning to really understand that eating is a way to blunt the sharp edges of uncomfortable feelings.  I know.  Doesn't everyone know that?
Well, yes.  I know it with my head, but now I know it with the rest of me, too.
I know because when the anxiety of the past two years came at me like a sharp sword, I fended it off with a nearby snack.
Anxiety is the worst for me.  I don't know what to do with it.  Feeling it is so uncomfortable for me that I eat instead. (Intersting to note:  I don't want to eat when I'm angry.  I'm rarely angry, though.)
I noticed that this week, especially, and realized that it's not stress that drives me to overeat as much as plain old anxiety does.  For me, stress and anxiety is not the same.  Stress can mean I'm super busy and have a lot of demands on me.
But anxiety  means I am worried, worried, anxious and worried some more about something that I can't exactly control.  If I could control it, I would, but so much of life is out of my control.
For example, this week my 13-year old started 8th grade in a new school here in a new state.  I felt so worried for him.  Would he find his way?  Would the kids be nice to him?  Would he like the school?  Would the teachers like him as much as I like him?
And even though I had two weeks of clean eating under my extra-extra-large belt and even a five pound weight loss, I began to prowl in the pantry, searching for something to eat, something that would soothe my troubled soul.
Dumb, right?  Right. But that didn't stop me.
Then, as I was thinking about these things, I began to worry about the next thing and the next thing and the next thing as they popped up on the hazy horizon of my life.
And I wanted some cookies, a whole lot of cookies.
Fortunately, I didn't have time to bake! But I did have pretzels and other non-whole grain stuff.
Tomorrow, I am going to buy produce and make a big salad.  I'm going to eat my morning oatmeal to steady my blood sugar for the start of the day.  I'm going to embrace the worry and find out if it will kill me.  (I'm guessing it won't.)