The following was written by a person who is in the process of recovering from emotional eating. For many, many years she has struggled with her relationship with food and her body. She emailed a very personal description of her stages of healing. She asked me to share it with others, if I thought it might help others. I do! Here’s what she wrote…
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Stage One: I was engaging in emotional eating and completely unaware of the triggers and felt I couldn’t stop.
Stage Two: Then I was becoming aware of the triggers, but only AFTER I engaged in the emotional eating. [private_membership circle]
Stage Three: I was becoming aware of the emotional eating triggers WHILE I was engagaing in the emotional eating.
Stage Four: This is where I am right now. I’m becoming aware of the emotional trigger before engaging in emotional eating, but choosing to eat anyway.
Stage Five: This is where I want to be. I want to be aware of the emotional trigger, but be MINDFUL and CHOOSE an alternative to emotional eating.
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Here’s my description of what can happen next.
Stage Six: Now “food thoughts” and emotional eating are no longer my “go-to” strategies for emotional regulation or for managing life’s stressors and pains. I’m more MINDFUL and I use healthier EMOTIONAL REGULATION TOOLS more automatically, all day long. I am growing more and more comfortable in my own skin. As a result, life feels calmer and more peaceful, no matter what’s going on.
This is possible! Use your weekly Empowerment Tools (See Tool #3 for “The Process of Change”, Tool # 7 for “Emotional Handrails”, Tool # 8 for a way to set and stick to “Daily Intentions”). Connect with people in the Empowerment Network. And if you need more support consider working with one of our emotional eating coaches. Or find a therapist who specializes in emotional and binge eating work. Recovery from emotional eating is worth the effort!
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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
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