Seven Emotional Blocks to “Eating Right”

If you’re like me, you’d sooner write a nutrition book than follow one! If you’ve read at least one nutrition or diet book in your lifetime (or perhaps dozens), then you know what to eat. You may even have it down to a science: a cup of this, four ounces of that, two tablespoons of this, and so on. Yet when you are hungry and really want to eat, you’re sitting down on the couch with a bag or box, not your measuring cup. When you have that “gotta eat” glaze, all intellectual reasoning and knowledge leaves the room: it’s time to eat!

The truth is that eating right isn’t as much about knowing what to eat as it is about wanting to eat it! I could have written a book on nutrition by age eighteen, but did it matter? My weight problem (fifty extra pounds!) wasn’t caused by lack of nutritional know-how, it was caused by uncontrollable emotional eating. My eating was as bottomless as my emotional hunger.

We know what overeating does to us, so let’s take a closer look at what overeating does for us. We don’t overeat simply because we love food (if only it were that simple!). We overeat and snack on unhealthy foods out of emotional impulse. Freedom comes when we identify what emotional function overeating is playing and take action to fill our needs in healthier ways.

In the following paragraphs, I discuss the seven emotional blocks to eating.

1. The Stress Effect

The number one cause of compulsive eating is stress. When our energy is low from overactivity and burnout, we use excess food to power us through. Eating relaxes us—temporarily.

Often, our stress is self-created; we subconsciously seek validation from our professional, social, and family obligations. Are you aiming to please at the expense of your own health?

Action: Adopt a meditation or yoga practice and embrace the silence; allow peace to be your new craving, instead of approval and food. For “easy-to-do” meditation, visit http://MeditationYouCanDo.com.

2. The Great Escape

Overeating dulls our emotions. The more we eat, the further away our troubles seem to be. Eating starch and sugar causes a secretion of serotonin in our systems, creating a feeling of euphoria and a numbing of our senses. The caveat is that the further we escape in food, the harder life becomes; our problems pile up, and our ability to cope diminishes.

Action: Overeating solves nothing. Ask for help from a friend, coach, counselor, or family member to face difficult issues. The sooner you face them, the sooner you’ll solve them.

3. Self-Protection Plan

Studies prove that there is a very strong link between obesity and experiences of early childhood sexual abuse. The fact is that when our bodies are violated in any way, it is natural to want to protect ourselves from further harm. Maintaining a large (or underweight) body can also be an unconscious attempt to shut down our sexuality and keep our own sexual impulses in check. We not only construct a physical prison with the intention of keeping others out, but also to trap ourselves in.

Action: Begin exploring your relationship with your body and your sexuality. Join a supportive dance or exercise group and seek assistance from friends, a coach, or a counselor.

4. Buried Alive!

We use food as a pillow to muffle our inner voices. We all have that still, small voice (God, Spirit, Holy Spirit, conscience, intuition) inside, directing and protecting us. When we listen to it, our lives are relatively smooth and orderly. When we deny it and act from our ego mind, we create chaos. We often bury this voice to avoid the responsibility of following its guidance.

Action: Affirm daily: “I welcome, embrace, and eagerly follow my inner voice, for this brings me energy, protection, and unlimited good!”

5. Self-Sabotage Solution

Gaining weight and living in a body we cannot stand erodes our self-esteem and self-confidence. We often have a deep-seated belief that we are bad and subconsciously take perverse pleasure in our food lashings. We easily feel guilt for things we have thought, said, and done, and instead of addressing these issues directly, we seek to deliver our own punishment by overeating and suffering the consequences.

Action: Start today to forgive yourself for all that you perceive you’ve done wrong. Next, become diligent about amending any hurts you cause, even slight ones. When you say or do something that offends or if you make a mistake, apologize and move on.

6. Self-Care Crisis

Emotional eaters take better care of others than themselves. But if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will or can. Eating right is about self-care, not self-control. If you don’t make self-respecting choices in your life, you won’t be able to make self-respecting choices when it’s time to eat.

Action: Spend the evening fixing and savoring a fresh, organic meal at home. Relax, and enjoy the experience!

7. Decrease the Deficit

Most compulsive eaters are compulsive doers. We pride ourselves in our near-superhuman strength and endurance. How do we do it? We overeat. At the end of a hard day, we refuel with a binge, telling ourselves that after all we’ve accomplished, we deserve it. The fact is that we create a deficit when we try to do more than our bodies and minds can reasonably do in a day. If we have to compensate for all do we by overeating, we are doing too much.

Action: Identify one activity a week you can cancel or pass to someone else. Everything will get done without your being there to do it.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many reasons why we don’t follow a proper eating plan. If you want real answers, look within. Chances are it’s not because you have the wrong diet, running shoes, or exercise equipment. The food you crave is filling an emotional need that must be addressed and healed for you to have lasting success. Since the inner mechanisms that cause overeating also cause other chaos in our lives, when you identify and heal these mechanisms, your entire life improves, not just the number on the scale. It’s only when you change your life that you can truly change your waistline!

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health”, visit http://selfgrowth.com/healthbook3.html

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