Is your eating, eating you?

For many people emotional eating has caused a lifelong union with the cycle of weight loss, then weight gain known as yo-yo dieting.

Common struggles include feeling out of control when you eat, not being able to stop eating, or not caring whilst you binge, then feeling shame and regret afterwards.  If your relationship with food ignores the physical signals of hunger then there’s probably an underlying emotional reason that’s driving you to eat.

Emotions are the primary motivator for our behaviour.  Some people drink alcohol or take drugs to block, numb or avoid their emotions.  In the same way, emotional eaters use food to block or regulate their emotional responses.  As long as you suppress your emotions with food, your weight loss battle is likely to continue.

To overcome the battle with food and weight control you must find a way to release those stored emotions.   Psychotherapy and counselling can provide a neutral space in which you can explore, identify and connect with your emotions and allow the emotions to be processed and the tensions to be resolved.  Once you feel more in control of the emotional aspects of your life, you will be able to confront those issues and process them without using food to do the job for you.

To some extent we all make emotional decisions regarding food and most people will be seduced into eating something tasty when we are not hungry. That’s normal behavior.  But when your eating behaviour becomes your emotional regulator and food is used as a coping mechanism, then it’s in your long term interest to find a better solution.

A weight off your mind can be better than weight off your body. Many people mistakenly believe the opposite is truth.

If you would like help to change your eating behavior,  ACFED has a network of trained and approved practitioners across Australia and New Zealand. Click here to find an ACFED Practitioner…