I’m not hungry, I just want to eat more.
Sigh.
Whether you’ve had a rough day and feel the need for comfort or a reward of some kind, or perhaps you simply look to that item to soothe your stress, we often look to food to cure what ails us. We get a quick dopamine hit, so we associate putting something in our mouths with pleasure. Great. Until it gets out of control and putting something in our mouths becomes our primary pleasure, and so we just eat more. The resulting spread of our waistlines becomes something decidedly unpleasurable. Yet, we keep doing it.
Letting go of the way we’ve soothed ourselves for a long time to find a viable alternative is really hard, isn’t it?
Do you hear that?!!
Hear the reasons/excuses already lining up in the back of your mind?
Write them down. Capture every last one of them. Do it now. I’ll wait.
Seriously, Write It Down.
Made your list?
Look it over. Which one of those reasons for not letting go of soothing yourself with food is worth the pain and frustration of the health and weight challenges you’re currently experiencing? How is that Twinkie buzz you felt for 45 seconds worth the years of struggle to try to get past that number – the size, the scale, the minutes you can walk or run, the blood pressure, the medications, or whatever other consequence of emotional eating?
Did that XXXXX food effectively soothe you?What might have done a more effective job?
Making the Shift
Part of my summer learning is about making real and lasting change, and part of that is coming to a decision point — this is the time, the line is drawn in the sand, here’s the moment I decided that I didn’t want to miss out on or to experience X anymore. Then I can commit to a strategy.
Are you ready to drop the baggage of using food to soothe yourself? Are you ready to let go of those reasons/excuses and make a lasting change? This could be the day you draw your own line in the sand—and find your key to overcome emotional eating or whatever learning you desire.
Renée Jones is a counselor and coach specializing in overcoming emotional eating. After 40 years on the Diet Yo-Yo, she struggled to find what worked for her while emotional eating sabotaged every attempt. When she finally overcame that emotional eating to lose her weight, maintenance on a low-fat diet left her tired, hungry, and cranky. In April of 2015, she found the ketogenic lifestyle and later Carrie Brown’s recipes, which freed her from the Diet Yo-Yo and dark mood swings.
Now she helps others get free of their emotional eating and other baggage so their hearts can heal along with their bodies. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling with certifications in both traditional and contemporary models as well as Horse-Assisted and relaxation methods. She has an international counseling and coaching practice.
Author of What’s Really Eating You: Overcome the Triggers of Comfort Eating
Connect with Renée!
www.packyourownbag.com
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