Mental Fitness provides Body Fitness and Freedom from emotional Eating Tis the season, or the summer season for baring all or at least shorts, tanks, bathing suits and flip-flops! If you’re like most of us your stomach may have given you a little twinge after reading that sentence. Actually, just the thought of dawning my bathing suit anytime gives me an uncomfortable feeling. I have the tendency to be what would be termed an emotional eater.
Are you an emotional eater? For instance, do you get triggered to eat when under stress? Do you eat for comfort, escape or to feel good? Do you reward yourself for working hard; eat when bored or because it’s just plain fun. Are you eating when not hungry? Does the word diet turn you off?
If you said yes to any or all of these questions, don’t worry you are not alone. Moreover, it is not your fault and there is a way to break the cycle!
At a young age, many of us grew up learning from our parents and caretakers to use food as a reward and as a result “attached” a good feeling or positive outcome to certain foods. For instance, our parents gave us a cookie or piece of candy to illicit a different or specific behavior, all with good intentions, but the result was we sometimes learned to use food to feel good when feeling badly. We were also taught to clean our plates and not be wasteful so we stopped listening to our body’s natural response to stop when full and satisfied. All this coupled with cultural pressure to adhere to a specific body type or image has created not a sense of empowerment but confusion and perhaps even self loathing.
Beyond exercise and a healthful nutrition plan the most essential and often overlooked component of a weight loss program is addressing the emotional response to food when it is no longer a useful one!
Start by buying a journal and take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts when you have a craving and find out what’s really going on, then reward yourself with something other than food. This will help to identify the thinking and feelings attached to certain foods so you can begin to change the dialogue in your head about yourself.
Here’s some language changing tips to follow that will get you practicing and provide quicker and easier results:
Think of food as fuel for energy and ask yourself before you eat > “Does this fuel my body and brain”.
Get rid of the word Diet which equates lacking something and can’t have. Shift to empowering choices.
Say "I choose to eat this. Think, "Right now I am making intelligent food choices for my body and my health” vs. “I can’t have that because I am on a diet because I’m bad”
For cravings; Immediately stop and think of the long view vs. short view.
Follow a potential relapse to its inevitable end. "If I have that donut (which will last a minute) I will feel badly and beat myself up for being weak which will lead to more donuts... when my goal is to be fit and healthy." THEN pair it with a drink of water to change the old stimulus response pattern to a new one. Some report smelling peppermint oil or orange oil helps to reduces cravings.
Define your goal to be healthy, fit and happy vs. “skinny”, “thin”, or a particular size or number.
Create a vision board to help with motivation and to reorganize the mind toward goal completion. Use pictures and images from magazines as well as your life. Have fun making your board! Find images of healthy foods, exercise, rewards and utilize positive/supportive words and phrases. Put it where you’ll see it daily. Vision boards are a great mental exercise to help with conceiving any goal.
Utilize guided meditation cd’s to help de-stress your life as well as one's specifically designed for weight loss. These are very effective to retrain the mind and get the conscious brain out of the way. Listen to the weight loss cd every day for 30 days.
Finally, energy and motivation increase when feeling empowered . Remember frustration creeps in because everyone wants to lose 30lbs seven months ago. If it took time to gain it, give yourself time to release it!
Laura Delle Donne-Schmidt, LMHC,CHt.
Also check out Ron’s herbal tips for weight loss and cravings coming soon!