Does it feel like you’re thinking about food all day and night?
Do you eat when you're not hungry or avoid food when you are?
Do you plan your day around what you plan to eat and sometimes all your plans go out the window?
Eating or on the other hand under-eating is one way to cope with stressful situations in life. The odd thing is that it is not really about the food—except for when it is.
Emotional eating is umbrella term for food problems that result from difficult-to-manage emotions. Depression and anxiety are often a part of the problem.
If you struggle with food-mood problems you may experience any of the following:
Eating until stuffed most of the time
Eating very fast and unable to slow down
Can’t get your mind off of food
Constantly grazing
Avoid eating when you’re hungry
When you feel like this you might feel like you’re missing out and unable to enjoy eating and avoiding fun situations so you don’t have to stress out about food. It’s like you’re on the outside watching others have the life you want to live.
How do I know if Emotional Eating is really a problem?
Eating problems are known by many different names; binge eating, emotional eating, compulsive eating, food addiction, overeating, careful eating, even the label “healthy eater” often means something other than well-rounded nutrition. Any of these labels can signal a problem with food. What this really means is that your relationship with food is a problem. Food, either too little or too much, provides comfort for the pain in your life. The good news is that you don’t have to heal alone.
Top down model…
Many programs or methods encourage focusing on the underlying issues with the hope that problem eating will go away on its own because now you know why you do what you do.
Bottom up model…
Another method is to focus on the food behaviors and somehow you will learn to manage emotional eating differently.
Fortunately learning how to become a Conscious Eater combines the best of both worlds!
Conscious Eating works with the relationship you already have with your mind, body and heart to grow the connection and improve communication so that you can freely make choices that are in your best interest.
Conscious Eating helps you learn how to calm anxiety, move through depression and create new habits.
New coping skills can be learned at any age and you can enjoy life.
Even if you have struggled with food issues, eating disorders or emotional eating for many years, a better relationship with yourself, your emotions and food is possible.