Birthday parties. Dinner with friends. Family gatherings. Work celebrations. Feeling lonely, stressed, sad, anxious, depressed, happy, excited, celebratory. As humans, we are emotional creatures. At any given moment we can flip from one extreme to another. Just about everything we do is driven by an emotion we are feeling. So why is it that emotional eating gets such a bad rap?
First things first, ALL eating is emotional eating. Whether you are aware of it or not you release some kind of emotion with every bite of food you take. Our brain is wired to release senses. These emotions and senses are what save us from dangerous situations and allow us to celebrate joy. Everything we do is tied to an emotion.
So, why is it that we believe we can eat without emotion? That somehow we can outsmart our brain and shut it down around food. I am a firm believer in eating without guilt and shame. I talk about it often. I believe it is perfectly acceptable to after a long day at work to enjoy whatever your body desires. I encourage a warm chocolate cookie to soothe your soul after an argument with a spouse. Is life stress overwhelming you? Have that glass of wine and piece of chocolate. Lean into the emotion you are feeling, recognize why you are eating and move on from it all. When you look at emotional eating as a choice it empowers yours with the right to make your own decisions. Feeling stressed and eating something is not the worst thing you could be doing.
Emotional eating becomes a problem when it is no longer a choice. When it becomes your only means of coping. When the urge to “eat all your feelings” is uncontrollable. When it becomes your default. More important than anything BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. Recognize without guilt that food has become your only source of coping. Next, learning other skills as means of coping is key to allowing a balanced relationship with food.
Making a clear-minded decision to emotional eat without guilt and shame removes the most toxic part of it. When you have guilt and shame around eating not only does it affect your digestion process and how you metabolize food, it also keeps you trapped in an emotional eating cycle. When you feel guilty for emotional eating you will only continue to eat emotionally.
Find a few moments to create a list on your phone of things that you can realistically use as other forms of coping with stress, sadness, loneliness, etc
1) Guided Meditation for 60 seconds
2) Read a few pages from a book or your favorite blog
3) Paint your nails
4) Send a text to a friends
5) Walk to the mailbox
6) Pump up the jams
7) Flip through a magazine
8) Speak positive affirmations to yourself
“I trust myself to make the right decision”
9)Write out your feelings
10) Take a bath
11) Exercise
12) Walk away
13) Ask yourself how will I physically feel after I eat this?
14) Unfollow negative people/things on social media
15) Play with a pet
16) Hang out with your kids
17) Stargaze at night
18) Declutter 3 things from your home
19) Plan a hike
20) Light a candle
Most importantly remember it is your body, you are in control and you decide how you want to treat yourself.
{If you are suffering from depression, anxiety, mood swings or extreme binge eating please let go of the guilt, shame and stigma feed to us and seek a mental health professional for further treatment. There is light. There is hope. It’s time we all fought back against society’s message about mental health and start caring deeply for our souls by whatever means we may need. }