I specialize in helping others overcome emotional eating because that was the way I sabotaged every diet I tried in those 40 years on the Diet Yo-Yo.
So what Is Emotional Eating?
Emotional Eating is essentially eating when you are not hungry. You may be bored, stressed, upset, tired, frustrated, etc., and you need or want soothing from that emotion with food or drink.
You may also be happy, celebrating, and having a great time with others. The reverie can kick up great memories or challenging ones that are sentimental or painful.
Food can be a connection to a person or some past experience, and consuming the food or drink meets that emotional need for the connection. I did that for years with peanut butter – it was a tangible connection to my nan, who loooooooved me, and I knew it. Peanut butter soothed me, and I knew that when I found myself circling back to the refrigerator for another spoonful of peanut butter – well, I wasn’t really looking for food.
In short: Emotional eating is seeking food for any reason other than physical hunger.
Let’s be fair: There is a payoff initially. We love it! Food is fun and satisfying and wonderful in so many ways – at least until – until –
Until we are either feeling quite overfull, a bit sick, or remorseful.
We weren’t going to do that again.
Cue all the self-flagellation that has also become part of our habit, and that familiar pain can create quite a downward spiral, can’t it?
Are you ready to get off that not-so-merry-go-round?
First, we have to stop the spinning, settle ourselves, and do some discovery so we know what we’re working with.
Breaking our Habit or Dependence on Emotional Eating
Perhaps this is a new behavior you’ve picked up, or perhaps, like me, it’s something you learned early, so you’ve done this for a long time. The soothing and the immediate relief emotional eating brings can easily spin and spin and spin. One cookie invites another, one spoonful of peanut butter, one packet of chips or bowl of popcorn begs another. You’ll remember from school that any object in motion tends to stay in motion until it meets an equal and opposite force, which stops it. That full stop makes space for the change.
If you’d like to know more about how to make this space to help you overcome emotional eating, go to: www.packyourownbag.com/info to download a free exercise and workbook.
Of course, if you’d like to talk sooner, shoot me an email, and we can talk through a plan to help you overcome emotional eating.
