I see a lot of women who neglect their needs and end up feeling depleted, low on energy, exhausted and tired.

Consequently, they often turn to food to cope and take care of themselves. They stuff down their emotions with food. Particularly in the evening.

But it’s not about the food (unless you’re restricting, but that’s another story for another day). Our eating issues are also often a symptom of something deeper going on.

It’s often a lack of emotional self-care.
Saying yes, when you mean no (boundaries).
Not expressing how you feel.
Not saying what you want.

This is suppressing self-care.

Lack of emotional self-care creates emotional overload, which creates emotional eating.

Practice new coping mechanisms, without the unrealistic expectation of “not eating” right away.

When you learn to diversify your coping mechanisms and increase your self-care skills, food naturally becomes less and less of a “go-to” over time.

Next time you’re feeling a certain emotion I invite you to step into that emotion and express how you feel and take care of yourself emotionally.

Beating yourself up for eating over feelings often sends people into a diet/restrict mindset, which often leads to binge-eating in the long run. So if you do turn to food to cope ~ eat mindfully, savour each bite, move on and don’t feel guilty about it.

This takes practice, but it’s amazing how our challenges with food start to slip away when we become comfortable at being uncomfortable and looking after ourselves.

You can do the following exercise now, or the next time you’re feeling an intense emotion. I invite you to pause and ask yourself – What am I feeling right now? (Use the Emotional Word Wheel below for clarity).

Reflect on your favourite ways to self-nurture. Perhaps it’s asking for a hug, playing with pets, meditating, reading, or taking a walk in nature? How often do you allow time for these activities?

Self-care, not self-control to help reduce emotional eating. Remember: We all eat for comfort from time-to-time. That does not make you a failure, it’s a normal part of eating.

If this is something that you need help with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me here>>