How to Use Emotional Eating as the Key to Change
The first step in making peace with food is in understanding what emotional eating is. To learn more about how I define emotional eating, click here to read my article, “What Is Emotional Eating?”
If you’re not sure whether you’re an emotional eater, click here to learn what the “Top 10 Signs You Might Be An Emotional Eater” are.
So You Think You’re An Emotional Eater
As mentioned in the first article, most of us eat in response to emotional triggers from time to time; it only becomes an issue if food is your go-to solution for every problem in your life. However, our diet- and thinness-obsessed culture elevates this coping strategy to a full-out crime, and the sad result of this is that many people harshly berate themselves whenever they overeat or eat the “wrong thing.” This leads to guilt, self-loathing, and more often than not, more eating to relieve those unpleasant feelings. None of these are helpful in any way.
In my work, I help people reframe each emotional eating episode into an opportunity for self-compassion and the development of a more intimate relationship with themselves. Yes, that means that you can see a binge as a “good thing” if you’re willing to take responsibiity for increased self-awareness and growth. This concept is foreign to many, and requires that one suspend deeply engrained judgment and self-criticism, at least in the moment. But the truth is, once a person does this, it opens up a whole new world, one in which you can learn incredible things about yourself, and the doorway is your relationship with food.
Here’s the process I usually teach my clients to accomplish this. It can be done the moment you find yourself craving […]