Hello love,
Today I want to share with you how emotional eating is about unmet needs and how we can go about meeting those needs and resolving this coping pattern.
When we emotionally eat we are trying to figure out why we’re so out of control with food + with our body. We don’t realize that this out of control behaviour is about needs, and certain needs are not being met. These unmet needs are driving the emotional eating pattern.
You might think; “if I find the perfect diet or I shrink my stomach or I do the right surgery or I take the right pill”, I’m going to just stop this obsession with food. But that obsession with food is something that’s calling out to us. It’s telling us that there are deeper needs that have not been met.
The way our brain has been programmed is that if we eat the food, it’s filling the void, the numbness, that “need” or craving we have. This is because that’s how we learned to survive and cope.
Emotional eating is a coping mechanism. It’s a pattern we developed to deal with distress, discomfort or uncomfortable emotions. It’s a way for us to cope and to feel okay. To attempt to regulate our nervous system and get back to a state of calm to regulate our mood. BUT It’s not meeting your true needs. It’s a temporary band aid fix that doesn’t get to the root.
So how do we even get here?
The pattern that I see with clients which might not seem obvious to you, is that when you were younger or at some point you didn’t have your needs met and you had to figure out a way to be okay. So as children, we need our parents and caregivers to help us move through any discomfort or uncomfortable emotions. To guide us and hold space for us. For most of us, and especially if you’re an emotional eater, this was most likely not the case.
Your parents couldn’t show up for you and hold that space for you.
A lot of the times with clients, they can’t pinpoint the pattern and it doesn’t seem connected to their emotional eating consciously. It’s not like they’re sitting at 5 years old eating all the candy and the cakes and they’re like, “yeah, I feel great”. It doesn’t happen so obviously for most of my clients. That’s why when we do the deeper work, we get to those roots.
Unmet needs
Emotional eating is about these unmet needs. While I could sit here and tell you you need to be seen, heard and validated, you haven’t learned how to tangibly give that to yourself. All of the solutions that are surface level is not going to meet those deeper needs.
We need to get into the body. Even beyond that, there are other needs that need to be met along this emotional eating journey.
So how do we meet these needs?
We need to validate ourselves. We have to relearn a new way of being with ourselves by having compassion with the food we eat, with our body and with our emotions.
This is why inside of the emotional Eating Evolution Program, there are 3 key phases. We learn about true nourishment, body acceptance and emotional wellness.
Check out the video for more on what needs we have in each of the 3 categories.
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If the message in the video is resonating and you are ready to resolve your emotional eating from the root then I’d love for you to check out The Emotional Eating Evolution Program here.
Inside of the program you get the step by step methodology, accountability, support, coaching and in depth meditations to help you move through and resolve your emotional eating.
To truly meeting your needs,
Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist specializing in Emotional Eating
