Have you ever found yourself eating when you weren’t hungry and just feeling so out of control around food and just beating yourself up afterwards?
If you have you’re not alone and the real driver isn’t food, it’s shame.
So today I’m going to unpack how shame plays a role in your emotional eating and how you can actually get to the other side.
Let’s talk a little bit about shame. Shame tends to happen at a very early age. If you think back, maybe you were criticized about your body, your eating habits, how you did things, the things you liked.
You felt you had to look or behave a certain way in order to feel accepted or loved. These experiences create shame and over time, our brain learns to soothe that shame with food because we weren’t shown how to move through those emotions.
The thing about food is that it is readily available and gives us a quick dopamine hit. It soothes our system temporarily. It numbs or distracts us from what’s really going on, because shame doesn’t feel good.
That’s why it feels impossible to stop, even when you really want to. There’s something deeper happening.
I’ve been there too. I remember eating all the cookies, all the chocolate bars, everything and just feeling like I couldn’t stop.
I tried willpower, I tried diets, I tried therapy. I tried a personal trainer. I tried all the things.
It took me years to realize that this wasn’t about food, this was about shame coming up. Once I started working with that root, my patterns finally began to shift.
Let’s dive in
- 1:44 Why typical solutions like willpower don’t work. The iceberg analogy.
- 2:56 What happens when we feel shame and how that triggers emotional eating.
- 3:24 Client example of feeling shame shopping and being triggered into emotional eating and ordering takeout.
- 4:15 Shifting this pattern – awareness and compassion as the first step.
- 5:44 Client example: from being triggered into emotional eating at team meetings to feeling at ease with no urges.
- 7:54 Next steps and program details
Next Steps
1. If you are ready to start your journey to resolving your Emotional Eating you can download my free guide “What Are You Truly Hungry For?” to start discerning true from emotional hunger and catching your triggers HERE.
2. If you are ready to transform your emotional eating so that you can get to ease, peace and confidence around food and in your body with a step by step process and guidance then find out more about The Emotional Eating Evolution Program HERE.
To resolution,
Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist Specializing in Emotional Eating
