FAB BLOG POST
How To End Emotional Eating:
3 Simple Steps
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The holidays are almost here, and that means TONS of yummy food temptations.
Holiday season is extra stressful for a lot of people (myself included), and this can lead to emotional eating.
So if you can relate, know that you are not alone! (and here’s a loving hint: it isn’t really about the food)
There is so much piled onto our plates, especially during the holidays, and it can get really overwhelming. But when you are able to get down to the root cause of your emotions, it becomes a lot easier to work through them.
To get identify what’s going on, think of your feelings like a car… when the check engine light comes on, you take it into the shop to figure out what’s causing the light to come on.
You can do the same thing with your strong emotions.
I’ve got a simple but powerful process that may just save you from a downward spiral of guilt and shame (i.e.: the black hole of emotional eating), and get you back into a state of peace and joy so you can really enjoy eating and feel empowered.
Notice when you are feeling the feels (imagine that check engine light is lit up). Take a moment and acknowledge what it is you are feeling.
Ask yourself these questions, so you can get to the root cause: What is really going on here? What is a need that I have that isn’t being met right now? Am I needing love, attention, to be understood etc…
Start thinking about solutions by asking yourself: How can my needs be met?
This is a great practice that you can use to bring awareness to what is really going on. The food just covers up the emotions… the food is just a bandaid.
So here is a personal experience where this process helped me work through some feelings I was trying to cover up with a big ole bowl of mac & cheese:
As the pasta was cooking, I noticed that I wasn’t even hungry, and that turned on my check engine light!
Realizing that my stress was stemming from a situation where someone gave my child food that I didn’t approve of, I dug deeper into what I was really feeling.
I felt disrespected…I felt like I wasn’t being heard.
Going even deeper, I realized that this situation threw me back to my childhood where I didn’t feel heard.
Back then I would go straight to food and use it to self soothe.
Now, I was able to bring awareness to my feelings, figure out where they were stemming from, and finally I could see that it wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it.
I decided to reframe the situation, show my child-self some love, and move forward (without binging on that mac & cheese I didn’t even want in the first place).
In the spirit of sharing, I would love to hear about a time when you were able to get ahead of your emotions (or get to the root cause) and deal with the emotions before feeding your emotions.
Or tell me about how you could see using this simple tip in your daily life or the next time things get heated for you emotionally.
Your insights, stories and tips help inspire others! I encourage you to share!
See you in the comments!
