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Emotions & Food Struggles

by in Blog Posts, Wellness July 1, 2019
Is this you?
  • Food choices consuming your daily thoughts.
  • Days, months, years of roller coaster dieting.
  • Eating tied to emotions – sad, happy, angry, depressed, excited, stressed.
  • Intense fear of weight gain.
  • Negative self talk and “beating yourself up” after eating.
  • Macronutrient restriction.
  • Scale infatuation.
  • Inability to control cravings.
  • Allowing food to control social settings.
  • Hiding food or eating in secret.

These are all very real struggles. I see them in 90% of my clients. I have seen several in myself.

But here is the reality, friends…
ALL of these unhealthy behaviors focus on food or food-related behaviors, but the food is not the real issue. Food is the vehicle. Food is what we use to get to a place that we think we want to be. Food is what we use to control our situation when we feel out of control.

I can share this with you all now because not only do I spend quite a bit of time counseling and helping my clients overcome these exact battles, but I have been there myself. I have struggled. And the struggle is real. Tt is hard, overwhelming, draining and time-consuming. But it is also changeable and there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you are willing to go through it!

I have spent A LOT of time focusing on the WHY.
Why was I infatuated with the scale?
Why was I restricting vital nutrients?
Why was I eating or drinking whenever I felt sad, stressed, angry or overwhelmed?
Why was I covering up what life was handing me by putting food or drink in my mouth OR the complete opposite with food restriction?

WHY is it that we use food as a vehicle (or coping mechanism) to cover up what we are really feeling? Instead of allowing ourselves to FEEL. Allowing the experience of emotion and feeling is life. Living with faith that those feelings are part of the journey. To realize from within that this is a season and getting through it is means possibly embracing emotions; being present and aware that we do not need to falsely cover them up with our food choices.

The truth. This journey has nothing to do with the food. But for me and so many of my clients, I felt “in control” when I had “control” over what I put in my mouth.

I wanted to change. I was tired of allowing this obsession to steal so much of my valuable energy that could be spent on something else. I was tired.
Ready for change and to finally put a stop to allowing food to control me or my every thought, I had to become keenly aware of my choices and behaviors. I had to face the underlying BEHAVIOR to be able to confront and face my unhealthy struggles with food.

I am sharing this with you because I know too many people with these same struggles. They are real but they can be changed.

If this person is you, I would love to help. It’s time to spend your precious life and energy on enjoying the journey.

Much love and many blessings, my friends 🙂