Emotional Eating
Do you struggle with emotional eating?
One of the most important principles in breaking emotional attachments to food is to fully let go of the idea of "rewarding" yourself with food. I talk about this issue often because it's so pervasive in our culture. We "reward" ourselves for "being good" and punish ourselves for "being bad" -- all learned behaviors from society, culture etc... and the system of rewards and punishments fails in all areas, especially in the area of having a healthy relationship with food.
When people feel that certain foods are "rewards" or treats that are reserved only for certain times or occasions what we are saying to ourselves is that certain foods are really off limits, but you will allow yourself to have it because Friday is special. Or your birthday is a "reward" day. Or Sunday mornings are the days you loosen the reigns on your regularly strict and disciplined lifestyle to have a "treat".
This reward mentality is a diet mentality. Food is not the enemy. The idea is to develop a healthy relationship and not a system of rewards, which necessarily creates a mindset of deprivation. If you allow yourself only to eat a cupcake on Friday night for example, your subconscious reads that as "cupcakes are forbidden". This creates more stress, more strain, and eventually, a much more difficult road ahead in your connection to food. this mentality will keep you forever hooked into emotional eating because a certain "regularly off limits" food is being doled out as a reward.
It's sad to see so many diet books telling people the complete opposite. "Let yourself have cake but bake it with splenda", or "let yourself have cookies but only on the third full moon of the year in odd months". Obviously a bit of facetiousness but in all reality, not too far from the truth. These ideas put you in the position of disempowerment, where you believe you are simply not able to trust yourself to make healthy choices without a strict rule in place.
The healthy approach is one in which you know that ALL foods are available to you at all times. A mindset of abundance. A mindset that you are not a dog being trained. You do not have to be limited, rationed, rewarded or any such thing. You are perfectly capable of making healthy choices whenever you want. And if you don't want to and you want to eat the cupcake, then go ahead and eat it without any guilt or shame. Then the next meal you eat, decide if you want to eat healthy and again, make the choice that is best for you in that moment.
It's all about building trust in your own ability to make excellent decisions. Over time, the more you trust yourself the more you will naturally eat less of the indulgent foods, and rich dessert foods that may not necessarily be in your best interest.