Moms Talk Network

We found someone really interesting on Twitter that we thought you should know about

Catherine, please tell us something fun about you that our readers should know.

Hi Kelly! My husband and I love to travel and we’ve been living abroad with our family for three and a half years now, working from home. We have spent extended periods of time in Malta and Tunisia and we have traveled with our kids to Italy and Ireland as well. A few days before Christmas last year you could find the five of us on camels, with our Bedouin guides, trekking into the Sahara desert on an overnight camping expedition.

How long have you been working at home?

This is my tenth year as a work at home mom. I have had a lot of job titles: legal transcriptionist, affiliate marketer, membership community owner, and project manager. But now I’ve finally found my life’s purpose: I am the founder of an online support community for people who struggle with emotional eating and clutter/hoarding, Nurturing Hope.

Why did you start a site about clutter and emotional eating?

Well, nine years ago I weighed 357 pounds. I had struggled with emotional eating and binging all my life. And to make it worse, I was also a serious pack rat. Because of my problem with hoarding, the house was literally piled up with clutter, junk and even garbage. The idea of anyone even coming to the house was mortifying.

I was almost beyond hope, but then I decided to make just one little positive change. And then I made another change. I started to slowly take control of my life, my weight and my home as the changes added up.

So flash forward to now, I’ve lost and kept off over 110 pounds. And I’m still gradually losing weight. But the best part is that my home is clutter-free, I have routines, and we live in a peaceful
environment instead of in the midst of a mess. I decided that what I’m really meant to do is to reach out to others who are in the despair I was in and help to give them hope by showing them the way out. So that’s what I do at NurturingHope.com.

What advice can you offer to moms who are feeling overwhelmed by their clutter at home?

Well, I firmly believe that the way to lasting change is to add small positive habits one by one. Trying to do it all at once is a recipe for burnout, especially when you’re also trying to look after your kids. So I recommend that moms who want to clear out the clutter start by setting aside just 15 minutes a day to clear the clutter out of their lives, one room at a time.

And what about moms who are really struggling with emotional eating?

Diets that restrict portions are not the answer for emotional eating. It backfires because you end up feeling deprived and then you binge.

Instead, pay attention to your hunger signals. Learn to identify when you are eating to satisfy hunger and when you are not. Those times when you are eating but you’re not hungry, ask yourself what you really want? Do you want some time to yourself? Do you want to feel
secure? Do you want recognition from your spouse or family? Just acknowledging what you want and pausing to feel that emotion is a very powerful first step in reducing emotional eating.

Follow Catherine on Twitter!