Guest Blogger: Pilar Cobb, owner bFit Studio
Many of us use food to avoid the emptiness that comes from feeling a lack of love, comfort, or passion for life. It’s only when we acknowledge and examine our emotional hardships, that we can truly develop a healthful relationship with food. Here are 5 suggestions to help you stop emotional eating.
1. Pay attention to when you eat.
Yes, you should tune in to those occasions when you eat but aren’t really hungry. Are you stressed, bored, or sad? But also pay attention to how you spend your time and your money—and what you value most in the world. Often people turn to food to express core beliefs. Those who feel the need to be in control in order for things to go smoothly often go on extreme diets only to find themselves bingeing uncontrollably after a period of deprivation. Those who can’t sit quietly with their loneliness or solitude may seek out pleasure from a bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips. “Ask yourself what’s going on in those moments when you turn to food,”
2. Take action to avoid eating when you’re not hungry.
Consider what would happen if you didn’t eat when you’re, say, feeling sad. You may, even on a subconscious level, believe that you’d fall apart if you let the sadness in or never stop crying. Or you may think you just can’t deal with your boredom. But give it a try once and see. “Allow yourself to feel the boredom, sadness, or anxiety,” she says, “without using food to change the channel on what’s happening in your life.”
3. When you are hungry, stick to the following rules.
Eat sitting down in a calm environment—not in your car. Avoid any distractions, like TV, newspapers, books, or anxiety-producing conversations. Eat what your body wants and just enough to feel satisfied but not stuffed. Have your meals with the intention of being in full view of others and do so with enjoyment, gusto, and pleasure.
4. End dieting once and for all.
Don’t believe that if you would just become thin that you’d be happier—that all your suffering would be gone. We can be just as miserable thin as we could be fat. Stop dieting and develop a healthy lifestyle when it comes to eating. This takes time…..consider it a journey opposed to a destination.
5. Embrace curiosity.
Most of us aren’t curious about why we do what we do. That may be because we don’t want to be our own worst critics. Practice mindfulness before we put food in our mouths. Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.
Feel grateful for what we do have instead of using food to make us feel good!
Pilar Cobb, NASM/ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Owner, bFit Studio
www.bfitcolumbus.com
Photo Credit: graphicleftovers.com
