CAUSES OF EMOTIONAL EATING
DEPRIVATION
The hunger that’s caused by dieting and deprivation, increases feelings of anxiety and that causes stress. A stressful life leads people to look for things that soothe them and comfort them. The way I used to look at it, diet is temporary deprivation in order that I can eat again.
Some people feel like they don’t even want to start a diet because they don’t want to be deprived of the things that they love to eat. That fear has been there for a long time. Often, as children, our parents said, “Oh, you’re upset, here’s a cookie, here’s some ice cream.” So we associated the food with comfort. So we need to let go of this fear and know that we have other skills to comfort ourselves.
It’s nice that we have things that we enjoy. It’s when we’re eating it out of control. It’s the overeating rather than the eating. We just need to learn to be social eaters. That might include some of these foods, but we’re not going to overeat them. That’s the way we get into trouble. There’s a difference between eating one piece of cheesecake and eating the whole cheesecake.
Here’s something to think about. The experts say: “If you’re addicted to a food, you’re probably allergic to it!
Boredom
Boredom goes along with sort of our habit eating and our triggers for eating, because oftentimes it’s the television that’s on, which means you eat while watching TV. Or, you’re reading a book and so you eat. In terms of boredom, a lot of it is positional and places and triggers of, “When I do this, when I’m alone at night, when nobody’s there. This will keep me busy, this will keep me entertained. Boredom is about filing up the space when you’re alone and nothing else is happening.
Loneliness And Sadness
Loneliness and sadness goes along with what we’re talking about using food to comfort you, using food as your friend, using food to feel like you have company, you have someone there. People even often talk about some of their favorite foods as their friends that they can count on to always feel good with. What we’re really looking for is basically love, joy, connectedness in our lives. Some of the foods actually give us endorphins and make us momentarily feel better.
We’re always taught that it’s about getting the right workout plan or the right food plan. And it’s not. It really doesn’t work. Everybody who’s failing in their diet, if they had to take a test right now, and were asked, what they should be eating, they would know exactly what to eat. It’s getting people to be able to do it.
Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs probably block our weight loss more than anything. For someone who has been trying to lose weight for a long time and hasn’t been successful, it becomes a part of his or her identity.
They say they want to lose weight. They read all the books. But they’re not totally on board with losing weight. If you ask, “what happened last time you lost weight?” Sometimes they’ll say, “I got a divorce. My mother died. All these men were flirting with me.” Things that they were uncomfortable with, which in some ways, are blocking them now from losing weight. Often times you want to look at what happened when you gained weight. Did you lose your job? Did you break your leg? What was going on that is associated with the weight?
Safety Issues
The safety one is a big issue. So many people have had bad past experiences, when they’ve been thin. For women, it’s they’re afraid of men having interest in them, men pursuing them. Maybe people have even had bad traumas when they looked thin; they got too much attention. People need to feel safe.
Possibility
Possibility is another huge issue. You could have grown up in a family where everyone was fat, and so you had this belief that “Well, I’m going to be fat. I’ve got the fat genes; there’s nothing I can do about it.” And so people just feel like they’re resigned, there’s just no possibility. They can’t really lose weight. Nothing’s worked for them in the past, the genetics are against them. Their family history is against them. So they don’t feel it’s possible. And when you don’t really feel it’s possible, you’re not going to give it a good old college try. You need to be in alignment of knowing that it’s totally possible for you to be the weight you want to be.
Deserving
Deserving is another big one. When you don’t feel like you deserve something, you probably also won’t get it. You need to have a feeling that you deserve it, you’re worthy. You’re good enough to be able to be the weight you want to be.
You may need to work on specific issues where you feel ashamed or guilty about anything you’ve done in the past. People are often so ashamed of how they look. Or they feel ashamed that they’ve binged or snuck food in the past. So they don’t feel like they deserve it. You need to know that you can forgive yourself. You are forgiven. This time is different. You’re good enough and worthy enough to really fulfill your dreams.
Rewards
Let’s talk about food as a reward. There are other ways to reward ourselves other than food. We need to break that connection. It’s important for people to know there’s something other than food that can make us feel good.
OTHER ISSUES
Exercise
Exercise is necessary but it’s not sufficient. I’ve seen too many people who go to the gym, they’re at the gym, and they’re working out. They’re doing everything, and it’s just not enough. They don’t see any difference in their weight. In fact, it can become painful and discouraging after awhile.
Allergies And Hormones
Another piece of the weight loss is how allergies and hormones can affect your weight loss. If your body is allergic to certain foods, your body will hold onto water weight in order to try to dilute the poison that it thinks that food is. Grains are usually the worst culprits. For some people its wheat or oats or corn. Even if you’re eating it in a proper amount, the body sees them as poisons.
But remember, emotions have to be dwelt with first, because we can do all the things with the hormones and the allergies, and if you’re eating emotionally, nothing’s going to work. The emotions are what run our eating.
A good affirmation I recently heard and use all the time, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” For me it puts it in perspective of, “I might want to eat this, but really I love it when I look the way I want to look.
The hunger that’s caused by dieting and deprivation, increases feelings of anxiety and that causes stress. A stressful life leads people to look for things that soothe them and comfort them. The way I used to look at it, diet is temporary deprivation in order that I can eat again.
Some people feel like they don’t even want to start a diet because they don’t want to be deprived of the things that they love to eat. That fear has been there for a long time. Often, as children, our parents said, “Oh, you’re upset, here’s a cookie, here’s some ice cream.” So we associated the food with comfort. So we need to let go of this fear and know that we have other skills to comfort ourselves.
It’s nice that we have things that we enjoy. It’s when we’re eating it out of control. It’s the overeating rather than the eating. We just need to learn to be social eaters. That might include some of these foods, but we’re not going to overeat them. That’s the way we get into trouble. There’s a difference between eating one piece of cheesecake and eating the whole cheesecake.
Here’s something to think about. The experts say: “If you’re addicted to a food, you’re probably allergic to it!
Boredom
Boredom goes along with sort of our habit eating and our triggers for eating, because oftentimes it’s the television that’s on, which means you eat while watching TV. Or, you’re reading a book and so you eat. In terms of boredom, a lot of it is positional and places and triggers of, “When I do this, when I’m alone at night, when nobody’s there. This will keep me busy, this will keep me entertained. Boredom is about filing up the space when you’re alone and nothing else is happening.
Loneliness And Sadness
Loneliness and sadness goes along with what we’re talking about using food to comfort you, using food as your friend, using food to feel like you have company, you have someone there. People even often talk about some of their favorite foods as their friends that they can count on to always feel good with. What we’re really looking for is basically love, joy, connectedness in our lives. Some of the foods actually give us endorphins and make us momentarily feel better.
We’re always taught that it’s about getting the right workout plan or the right food plan. And it’s not. It really doesn’t work. Everybody who’s failing in their diet, if they had to take a test right now, and were asked, what they should be eating, they would know exactly what to eat. It’s getting people to be able to do it.
Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs probably block our weight loss more than anything. For someone who has been trying to lose weight for a long time and hasn’t been successful, it becomes a part of his or her identity.
They say they want to lose weight. They read all the books. But they’re not totally on board with losing weight. If you ask, “what happened last time you lost weight?” Sometimes they’ll say, “I got a divorce. My mother died. All these men were flirting with me.” Things that they were uncomfortable with, which in some ways, are blocking them now from losing weight. Often times you want to look at what happened when you gained weight. Did you lose your job? Did you break your leg? What was going on that is associated with the weight?
Safety Issues
The safety one is a big issue. So many people have had bad past experiences, when they’ve been thin. For women, it’s they’re afraid of men having interest in them, men pursuing them. Maybe people have even had bad traumas when they looked thin; they got too much attention. People need to feel safe.
Possibility
Possibility is another huge issue. You could have grown up in a family where everyone was fat, and so you had this belief that “Well, I’m going to be fat. I’ve got the fat genes; there’s nothing I can do about it.” And so people just feel like they’re resigned, there’s just no possibility. They can’t really lose weight. Nothing’s worked for them in the past, the genetics are against them. Their family history is against them. So they don’t feel it’s possible. And when you don’t really feel it’s possible, you’re not going to give it a good old college try. You need to be in alignment of knowing that it’s totally possible for you to be the weight you want to be.
Deserving
Deserving is another big one. When you don’t feel like you deserve something, you probably also won’t get it. You need to have a feeling that you deserve it, you’re worthy. You’re good enough to be able to be the weight you want to be.
You may need to work on specific issues where you feel ashamed or guilty about anything you’ve done in the past. People are often so ashamed of how they look. Or they feel ashamed that they’ve binged or snuck food in the past. So they don’t feel like they deserve it. You need to know that you can forgive yourself. You are forgiven. This time is different. You’re good enough and worthy enough to really fulfill your dreams.
Rewards
Let’s talk about food as a reward. There are other ways to reward ourselves other than food. We need to break that connection. It’s important for people to know there’s something other than food that can make us feel good.
OTHER ISSUES
Exercise
Exercise is necessary but it’s not sufficient. I’ve seen too many people who go to the gym, they’re at the gym, and they’re working out. They’re doing everything, and it’s just not enough. They don’t see any difference in their weight. In fact, it can become painful and discouraging after awhile.
Allergies And Hormones
Another piece of the weight loss is how allergies and hormones can affect your weight loss. If your body is allergic to certain foods, your body will hold onto water weight in order to try to dilute the poison that it thinks that food is. Grains are usually the worst culprits. For some people its wheat or oats or corn. Even if you’re eating it in a proper amount, the body sees them as poisons.
But remember, emotions have to be dwelt with first, because we can do all the things with the hormones and the allergies, and if you’re eating emotionally, nothing’s going to work. The emotions are what run our eating.
A good affirmation I recently heard and use all the time, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” For me it puts it in perspective of, “I might want to eat this, but really I love it when I look the way I want to look.