Emotions and food are interconnected. Emotional eating isn’t inherently bad. Think of it like you’re not a robot. It’s not wrong to be human and have emotions. Food is supposed to be pleasurable and satisfactory. It DOES provide comfort. Now, if you ONLY eat when emotionally upset, or eating is your only coping skill, or you’re super disconnected from feeling - ask yourself the questions as you turn to food to numb out, “WHAT ELSE DO I NEED - WHAT AM I FEELING?” Will food address it? How can I gently feel and deal with this? Can you talk to someone, write, take a break, rest, have a bath, play!
What can you do to address the emotion you are experiencing?
Give yourself unconditional permission to eat food, remove the mental battle of restriction and punishment so you can clearly relate to food without ravenous obsession.
Shouldn’ts are often diet rules! Challenge that! Says who? You can work on healing your relationship with food and it starts with permission to eat all foods.
Emotions are part of it, and only eating for pure hunger or “fuel” sounds like a restrictive diet to me. The paradox: by having permission to emotionally eat, we don’t have to emotionally eat.
And to be honest, most of us are in literal nervous system dysregulation right now. Eating helps regulate us in survival mode. We’re not built to perfectly navigate 2020, or anytime, so have compassion for joes you’re related to food right now.
What’s your relationship with food looking like now a days? I know my appetite disappears and I get very nauseous when I have acute stress and anxiety. It’s always crappy, but sticking to food as self care and nourishment is how I show myself self-respect even when nothing sounds good.
Therapy and tacos for all,
Graphic: Eating more or less because of emotional turmoil isn’t a moral issue. Practice being kind to yourself and having compassion for the impact of acute stress on your relationship with food.
