Emotional and Stress-Eating

One of the tendencies of people who eat to deal with emotions or stress, or for comfort, is perfectionism. This creates a lot of problems because ‘perfect’ ain’t a thing.

Seriously. Write down exactly what being a perfect human being entails so you have a clear standard to reach. Then throw in the fact that you have to interact with other human beings and see what that does to your standard. If you do that, send it to me – it’s the Holy Grail.

Perfectionism drives all-or-nothing thinking. Slipping up, just once, becomes a catastrophe, and a reason to drop back into the behaviours you’re trying to get out of.

Perfectionism is a stick to beat yourself with. Put down the stick.

Try this instead: High Performance.

I love rugby so it might not surprise you to find me listening to Kaila Colbin’s Hunger and Heart podcast where she’s talking to Shane Fletcher, the High Performance Campaign Manager for our world-beating Black Ferns. (Check them out: these are extraordinarily high performing sportswomen.)

Fletch talks about high performance being in our micro-moments. Small things matter but you’re not going to win all of your moments – even in high performance sport. Don’t put that pressure on yourself. Just notice when you’re not doing well, then return to doing well.

“Don’t stack your losses.”

Be authentic about recognising your slip-ups, forgive yourself and move on with the behaviour you want.

If you find yourself six biscuits into a packet that you didn’t intend to pick up, notice that. Quietly put the remaining biscuits down and speak kindly to yourself. If you can, write down what triggered you to get into that situation and ask yourself what you really need. If you can, give that to yourself.

Then, keep going with your previous high performing behaviour. No drama, just humanity and a return to the direction you were heading.

Photo by CFPhotosin Photography on Unsplash