Emotional Eating & The Holidays
You can unravel emotional eating, even during the most wonderful (and stressful) time of the year!
the secret weapon is your mind-body connection!
They’re heeeeeerrrrrreeee!
The Holidays that is. As much as I love this time of year, let's get real. The holidays can be the most food-triggering season because stress can take us down!
So, lets’ talk about how to have less stress and more JOY over the holidays!
It requires knowing how see deeper into overwhelm and stress and get in touch with your emotions, so you can put back the pie that you're eating out of the fridge. 😉
First and foremost, just assume that you will have times of navigating difficult emotions. And understand that it's normal to allow those emotions to spiral into emotional eating. AND, that it doesn’t have to be this way!
It’s all about your emotional landscape. Let’s dive in …
Instead of describing your emotional state as “stressed" or “overwhelmed”, get more specific. Think back to earlier this week.
When did you feel stress and overwhelm? Now, imagine you are 6 and you’re examining one of those Emotions Chart in school - you know the one with all those different facial expressions. See if you can pick out a more specific emotion.
Maybe . . . disappointment, embarrassment, guilt, shame, regret, sadness, resentment, jealousy, anger . . . OK you get the idea.
Next, try and identify 2 things:
What does this emotion feel like in your body?
What do believe about this emotion that’s painful or feels like baggage?? Not why do you believe this, or why you’re feeling this emotion based on the immediate situation. Ignore your natural tendency to go to “why”. Focus on WHAT.
These are 2 tough questions. But, get curious.
Emotions have a physical presence in our body. This is new discovery (which ancient people already knew) is going to be the subject of countless research over the next decade in regards to health, obesity, cancer and so much more.
You can become an expert in how specific emotions FEEL in your body. Find them. That way, you might not be conscious of an emotion, but a physical cue can let you know it's there, and you can respond before it festers and gets out of hand.
Challenging emotions also come with an internal critic or other “voices” that attach a big ‘ol narrative to those emotions. It takes conscious effort to DETACH from meanings that are really just a bunch of toxic garbage.
The key here is to use your body as a place to experience emotions, INSTEAD of your head. This means that reactions to your emotions, like emotional eating, are not necessary when you allow yourself to be with an emotion simply as a FEELING, and not a MEANING.
Research shows that if you can do this for as little as 90 seconds, you’ll have the capacity to respond to your emotions instead of react to them. And that makes ALL the difference!
WOW!!!
Emotions are like signals. That’s it. They are signals that we have a need. When we think of it this way, we no longer “deal with” our emotions, but use them for our benefit.
Example
Let’s say you have identified that underneath your overwhelm and stress is the emotion of Resentment.
Next, find your body cues . . . Maybe something like this:
Resentment to you feels like exhaustion.
Resentment also feels like a nervous energy that something must be made right.
(Oooh, connections with your body are happening!)
Next, you listen to your inner “chatter”. And what you hear is that, “Things aren’t going how they should be. Others aren’t doing their part. I always get the short end of the stick! If I want something done, I have to do it myself. I have to fight for what I need!”
WOW! That’s some powerful stuff. No wonder some sugar cravings is how you’ve learned to shut it all up!
But, here’s the key . . . you don’t have to shut it up! You can allow yourself to feel this powerful emotion and be with it differently.
Identify the tiredness in your body.
Identify the nervous energy in your body.
Name the emotion you’re feeling. “I am feeling resentment”
Practice simply BEING with all of this for 90 seconds - noticing, naming, being. Get curious about the experience.
The wisdom that follows self awareness is magnificent. You might choose to do something physical. Or you might choose some breathing or relaxation. Or, you might even notice that you simple feel this emotion, it’s not so bad, and it kinda just goes away.
It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are practicing being with your emotions and connecting with your body to use that emotion simply as a cue to tune into your body and your needs!
The double whammy of this work, is that you are also turning OFF your stress state that prompts rash behaviors, like emotional eating. You’re turning ON your relaxation pathways in your brain that open you up to intuition and wisdom! YES!!!
In the Three Point Balance coaching experience, we teach you how to create a relationship with food and your body that allows your wellness goals to come to life! Our clients are activating their innate body wisdom, going beyond sugar, carbs and food rules, while changing what their body craves in order to naturally and sustainably reach their goals.
Getting curious and diving into your inner world is hard. And yet, once you open the door, you might be very surprised at how effective this work is to change patterns that you’ve been fighting for a very long time. And hey, it might just allow you to be around those challenging in-laws AND the cookie platter without going nuts!!
Happy Holidays!
AUTHOR
Kim Parker Scheid
Mind-Body Eating Coach,
CEO Three Point Balance
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