Hello love,
It might seem obvious that food plays a role in the emotional eating pattern.
When I work with clients and even on my own journey food felt like the enemy were trying to control. It felt like we were out of control around food that it was the food making us do things.
On the outside at the outmost level this is what it feels like but this pattern goes deeper than food.
Emotional eating is when we use food to soothe ourselves from any discomfort and any uncomfortable emotions.
Is food the enemy?
We might think food is the enemy and that is where we get caught up in going to different diets to control our calories, plate size and how we interact with food and our relationship with it but it is not the root of what is going on.
It’s not your fault. Whether you’ve been on a diet or not our society has a diet mentality. That calories in equals calories out, your plate “should” be this size etc. There are all of these rules around food and dieting. We think if only we could just force ourselves to stick to it we would control our emotional eating.
But if we don’t understand what emotional eating really is we are doing ourselves a disservice. We are punishing our relationship with food and ignoring our relationship to our body + emotions.
Today I want to focus on food in this equation.
When we have this diet mentality I notice we are looking for that magic bullet. This perfect diet and perfect way of eating that will help.
I don’t want to dismiss that we need a structure to start nourishing ourselves because the way we eat and nourish ourselves is so important and it varies from person to person. Diets are external but we need guidelines to bring us back to our body.
As an emotional eater in recovery you don’t want to completely dismiss food. We want to have a healthy relationship to food. In a healthy relationship it doesn’t feel obsessive, compulsive or out of control.
To get to this healthy relationship we need to RELEARN how to be with food.
The role food plays in this pattern…
The role food plays in this pattern is that we relearn a new way to nourish ourselves. We move away from the diet mentality.
We move from restriction to a more abundant way with food.
We focus on optimizing digestion to absorb nutrients and boost mood.
Food is delicious + health giving
Feel satisfied with meals
Discern when we are triggered into emotional eating
We relearn how to have a healthy relationship to food so we can see where we have had an unhealthy relationship to it and being triggered into emotional eating. Where we are restricting and then binging, etc.
Emotional eating is not JUST about the food but it is part of the foundation.
What I saw when I was gong through my own emotional eating journey was that each practitioner only touched in on some of what I needed. It was not an integrated approach. We need to look at emotional eating from a holistic lens and that means food, body and emotions and how it all interrelates.
When we put all the pieces together – true nourishment, body acceptance and emotional wellness, they work synergistically to resolve emotional eating.
In The Emotional Eating Evolution Program we cover food in the first phase of the program and as we go through he program body acceptance and emotional wellness are other phases. Food is a key piece but we need all of them together.
Invitation – If what I am saying is resonating with you I encourage you to check out more about The Emotional Eating Evolution Program here and if you are ready to resolve your emotional eating and feel confident in your body and around food please apply + book in an assessment call to see how the program can help you meet your goals.
To true nourishment,
~Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist + Emotional Eating Expert.
