Freedom from Emotional Eating, Food & Weight Obsession

A Weigh Out’s Core Beliefs about Emotional Eating

  1. We believe healthy people come in all shapes and sizes.
  2. Diets don’t work for Emotional Eaters. Diets only address the symptom, the weight…not the underlying problem, emotional eating or the use of food to manage mood, to stuff down feelings.
  3. People use ”food thoughts”, food, and/or dieting behaviors to take care of emotional needs. When you fill your head with a food (or diet) thought, you temporarily push all other thoughts or feelings from your present consciousness. When we’re bored, stressed, angry or lonely, even when some of us get excited…to avoid the intensity of feeling, we obsess about food instead. Emotional overeating happens on a continuum. At the far end of that continuum, this can become a person’s primary coping strategy…a person’s only way to self-comfort and regulate their moods.
  4. We recognize and respect the power of food when it is used as a coping strategy. It works…for a little while…then we feel like our best friend has betrayed us.
  5. We respect the resilience of people who have come to use food to take care of their emotional needs. They have likely made it through some pretty difficult emotional times, by having food at their side.
  6. We understand that emotional eating impacts a person’s ability to live their life to the fullest and to achieve desired physical and emotional health.
  7. We honor the pain that results when this coping strategy seemingly takes on a life of its own…and robs a person of theirs.
  8. We believe change occurs when the problem is approached with new insight in these arenas…emotional, physical, nutritional, and spiritual health.
  9. We know, from experience, that working through the feelings that drive a person to eat can be a painful process…but, that process is nowhere near as painful as staying stuck in the problem.
  10. We trust that with support and new understanding a person can come to view change as a relief…and as an attainable choice. We know it takes courage to ask for help!

______________________________

Ellen Shuman is a Life Coach who specializes in emotional and binge eating issues. She is the founder of A Weigh Out & Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment, Vice President of the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), and Co-Chair of the Academy for Eating Disorders Special Interest Group on “Health at Every Size”, ellen@aweighout.com

Found this article useful? Please share it with your followers!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Free Guide + "Ellen's Weekly Empowerment Tips"

About Ellen Shuman

Ellen on the phone

I have worked in the Wellness Field for 30 years. I created an Emotional Eating & Binge Eating Disorder Recovery Program way before most people knew BED was an eating disorder, NOT a “willpower” issue. Personally, I suffered for years before finding answers and the help I needed and deserved! I became a Coach in 1997 to help others who were still suffering as I had. I love being a Coach!

Categories

Related Articles

Life Turns on a Dime

website builder This morning I was feeling very happy…pretty much smiling from ear to ear… I was emailing back and forth with a colleague, Dr. Deah

Creating Yourself

website builder A few years ago, Kathy, a client of mine sent me a wonderful card. To this day it sits on my desk and

The Most Important Few Words

website builder I lost a dear family friend this year; Mickey Chasanoff. He was one of the last true gentlemen; a man of tremendous honor, remarkable generosity, fierce

What do you know about PCOS?

website builder It is estimated that around 10% of females have a condition called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. The syndrome is characterized by insulin resistance, the

Does Shape Matter?

website builder ________________________________________ Ellen Shuman is a Life Coach who specializes in emotional and binge eating issues. She is the founder of A Weigh Out