Hello love,
Emotional eating is a coping pattern and usually the things we try to do to get out of this are also coping mechanisms. Like diets, over exercising even therapy, etc.
Coping mechanisms give us temporary relief but they do not resolve issues from the root and create resolution.
We want resolution so we can move forward in life.
I have experienced this as well as my clients – when we are an emotional eater we use food to soothe or numb ourselves from the daily stressors of life. This is how we cope with life, we distract from what is happening and don’t create resolution.
This is so common. Our society is set up to distract us and we usually don’t think about resolution until things are out of control and creating turmoil in our life.
But my hope is that if you are watching this you are ready to get a handle on your emotional eating before things go too far…
Emotional eating is when we use food as a bandaid, a coping mechanism.
This might not be conscious as this pattern is usually deeply ingrained. It’s that the way our brain works and usually results from a trauma in childhood. Trauma is on a spectrum and is when we have unresolved emotions about an event or situation.
We start using food to soothe and distract ourselves. We can see this in society with shopping or social media. The minute we feel that discomfort and have the urge to do something compulsively, in this case eat.
We’re not meant to cope. We are meant to thrive.
The way society is created we tend to pile on the coping mechanisms. Especially for an emotional eater…
We are told sometime is wrong with our hunger or how we eat so we pile on the latest diet to control ourselves.
We’re coping trying to control the food on the outside.
Then we pile on the exercise plan and shoulds. We “need to” work out this way and this amount of time. This is another coping mechanism that makes us feel safe thinking if we fit into that mold and box we’ll get the validation and acceptance we are craving.
The diet plans and exercise programs tell us something is wrong with our body, with us really.
Even with conventional therapy, there is a stigma attached with any issue. You view it as something is wrong with you. I was in cognitive behavioural therapy for a while and felt like I couldn’t resolve my issues. I kept thinking something was wrong because no matter how much I changed my behaviours I didn’t feel better. I realize now that I wasn’t getting to the root and creating a true shift from an aligned place.
Of course the pills and surgeries are another coping strategy that we pile on.
This puts us at war with ourselves. This takes away our power away more and more because we think these external things are correct.
As emotional eaters when our emotions and moods tank we look to food….
But we are meant to thrive.
The Journey to Thriving…
At some point in my journey I got sick of all the noise. I knew I needed to do something differently. I didn’t know what that was but I wanted what those women had – that effortless relationship to their body and food.
I kept digging deeper and started to implement things slowly. Eventually this became my methodology that I now use with clients. I started doing the following things…
- I started to throw everything out about restriction around food. I connected back to my body with true nourishment and being strategic with my digestion. I started to understand that my body needed to absorb the nutrients I was eating and how digestion impacted my mood. As emotional eaters poor moods can trigger our emotional eating. I also connected to my true hunger and discerned emotional hunger.
- I started to connect to the rhythms of my body in terms of energy and activities. I started to notice my mood and hunger changing with that as well.
- Then I added in emotional wellness and learned to process and resolve my emotions so I could move forward in a new way and not rely on food to distract or numb me.
All of these combined eventually resulted in me thriving. I was not longer emotionally eating and was feeling good around food and in my body. I see this with my clients time and time again as they go through this process in The Emotional Eating Evolution Program.
My clients move through this in a few months, but it took me over a decade to really hone this process through trial and error, trying all the things, and educating myself.
The transformation is amazing for my clients as they move through the process step by step. They connect back to themselves on all levels – food, body and emotions.
You won’t struggle with what to eat, how to move. It becomes easeful and effortless.
We need to move out of the old way and into a new way of doing things. This is the path to thriving. You look inwards to take back your power. This is where that ease, confidence and freedom around food and in your body emerges. You become internally motivated throughout the process because as you connect yo yourself you feel good and empowered and finally on the right track.
Invitation: I would love to invite you to check out more about The Emotional Eating Evolution Program here and if you are ready to resolve your emotional eating apply and book in an assessment call to see how you can be supported on this journey!
To thriving,
~Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist + Emotional Eating Expert
