Vlog Series: Episode 4 Emotional Eating

For many of my clients, their biggest concern when they first came to see me about their relationship with food was emotional eating. This is something I have experienced myself too and continue to even now, having completely transformed my relationship with food and body.

The first thing to understand about emotional eating is that it is completely normal. We often believe that emotional eating is bad, which of course reinforces to ourselves that we must be bad when we do it, which simply increases our stress levels and keeps us trapped in a cycle that is most likely not very helpful.

We are hard wired to use food as a tool for managing emotions. Think about when a baby cries, what’s one of the first things adults do to help? That’s right, we feed the baby. Eating is actually a really useful tool in our toolbox to help us with difficult emotions, whether we need to feel more grounded, more energised or more comfort. Eating can be a beautiful way to share joy and sadness with others and a way to connect as well.

Overcoming emotional eating does not mean you stop having emotions or that you have to control them. Overcoming emotional eating is about learning what works and what doesn't for you, finding strategies and outlets to feel and understand your emotions. Sometimes the strategy is food and sometimes that is perfectly ok.

So rather than beating yourself up about eating emotionally, let’s work out how we can use it in the best way to help when we need it. If you are going to choose food as a way to help you move through some emotions, try remembering these things:

- Being relaxed when you eat. Before you eat, take 5 slow deep breaths to help switch on your bodies relaxation response.
- Including pleasure and nourishment as part of your meal. Pick something to eat that brings the most enjoyment to you, serve it on your favourite plate or bowl, and allow yourself to feel into the pleasure that the meal is bringing you.
- Turning the volume down on the noise. Create a positive eating experience by setting the table, turning off the TV, playing some music, lighting a candle, really enjoying your food.
- Take your time and be in the moment. Use your senses, smell the meal before you eat it, take some time to imagine what it will be like to taste. Notice the different temperatures, textures and tastes of the meal as you eat.
- Cultivating gratitude. Take a moment to say thank you to your meal for being a support tool for you, for helping to navigate whatever emotion was present for you.

Finally, it’s important to learn to feel into your emotions and incorporate and increase the tools you have to help you manage and process what you’re feeling. This will allow you to utilise emotional eating and honour it as one of the options available to you. This is where an aroma mist or learning the emotional release techniques that I use in my coaching practice can find a place for you too. If you want to learn more about these, I’d love to help you grow your emotional management toolbox. Book in your free 30 minute zoom call with me and let’s chat about your emotions.