Friday 14 June 2013

EMOTIONAL EATING 101

Our emotions motivate us, if you are carrying too much weight then chances are you've got some emotional areas to explore. Be honest with yourself, are you most hungry in your head? your heart? or your stomach? 

Becoming aware of your thoughts and actions will be your first key to understanding the decisions that you've been making. Honest self awareness can allow you to raise your standard for yourself and create healthier choices.
Get a journal, a little portable diary that will not only help you to keep your eye on your goal but will also become your honesty blog. In your new health diary you are going to write everything that you consume to discover what is triggering you to make the choices you make.

In your journal you will write...

1, what you ate/drank
2, how were you feeling I.E. what happened just before you ate/drank
3, what you were doing when you ate/drank it.
4, where were you when you ate/drank it.
5, when did you eat/drink it
6, why you chose that food/ drink particularly
7, who were you with

Now that you have this valuable information you can further your insight by being honest with yourself and name your feelings... 
Next to the number 3's you can simply name and write the emotion or feelings you were experiencing. You could name them as worry, anger, hurt, frustration, anxiety or sadness. Writing this down will help you to recognise and be honest about your emotional triggers around food and drink.

In a short period of time your journal will highlight emotional eating patterns some examples can be...  eating for a reward, eating "on the go", drinking to wash away the day, stuffing down your anger, eating or drinking to shield you from anxiety,  patterns of lazy snacking or even to spite a parent. Who knows what other peoples triggers are? but once you are aware of your own eating habits patterns and triggers, a whole new world of possibilities opens up to you. 

If your diary simply shows you're consuming unhealthy snacks on the go - prepare ahead and pop some fruit or nuts in your bag for those moments. If it's because you need to feel in control of something then start creating more certainty in other areas of your life to gain that control. If it's relationship issues that are getting you into the habit of eating for connection and comfort - then seek advice from a coach on how to improve this area of your life. If you're eating or drinking to avoid falling into a big sad hole of past experiences then again get help with those emotions, I promise you food will never resolve these issues for you. What ever your emotional cause for eating, face it and get help to resolve it.

Your future and power is in your hands, when you have the above information written out in black and white in front of you, you have the power to ditch the old map, improve, create, step-up and transform.  Any "yeah buts"  or  "it's hard for me because" or "it's different for me"  stories you're telling yourself are just that, they're stories that will keep you stuck and keep you eating for unhealthy reasons. Create a new story with a compelling future, visualise yourself healthy and get a plan.

Once you've decided that you deserve to make better choices for yourself, take action (and a new decision is only real once you have taken action) Enlist someone who will hold you accountable. In fact research shows you are 3 times more likely to be successful when you share a new eating or exercise plan with someone you respect, so do involve those around you.


Good luck   Dawn 

1 comment:

  1. This makes so much sense! I keep a food diary, but it's never occured to me to journal my emotions and who i'm with when i eat the wrong things etc. Every person who turns to bad food or drink ... whether occasionally, or habitually...should read this. in fact EVERYONE should read this. Thankyou Dawn (ps, this is Debbie on James google account) x

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