Emotional and Stress-Eating

Any holidays are an excellent time for you to find out what your food rules are because holiday activities often revolve around food. If you would like to come and work with me, having an idea of your food rules would give us a great start.

These rules are edicts you follow – maybe without ever checking them – that have often arisen from past circumstances. I’ll list five circumstances and give you an example of a rule under each. For each example, I’ll give you the thought you might be thinking, then an alternative thought.

1. Scarcity or insecurity of money, food availability, or predictability in your life.

This develops if your food supply felt limited, uncertain or conditional when you were younger.

Rule: Eat now; you don’t know when there’ll be more.
Thought: If I don’t eat it all, I’ll regret it.
Alternative: Eating enough doesn’t mean eating all of it.

2. Your family or upbringing

These are family rules that have been drummed into you as part of ‘the way we do things.’

Rule: Saying ‘no’ when food is offered to you is rude or ungrateful.
Thought: I can’t disappoint someone else.
Alternative: I can thank someone and still say ‘no’.

3. Diet culture or societal judgement about food

These are family rules that have been drummed into you as part of ‘the way we do things.’

Rule: Saying ‘no’ when food is offered to you is rude or ungrateful.
Thought: I can’t disappoint someone else.
Alternative: I can thank someone and still say ‘no’.

4. Disconnection from your body’s signals

This can happen when you’ve previously ignored hunger and fullness signals or overridden them so you can please someone else.

Rule: Hunger isn’t important if I have other, more urgent things to do.
Thought: Hunger is just noise.
Alternative: Hunger tells me that I need fuel to keep going, including to do these urgent things.

5. Stress or overwhelm

You use food to regulate your emotions because it’s faster and easier than actually feeling them.

Rule: If I’m stressed or tired, I’ll have a snack and keep going.
Thought: I just need to get through this.
Alternative: A snack isn’t a long-term solution. What do I really need?

 
Which ones apply to you? What other rules do you follow? Write them down. When you’re ready to work on them, come and see me.

Photo by Fotos on Unsplash