If you struggle with any type of emotional eating you may sometimes feel a very powerful urge to eat when not physically hungry. Because a craving can be emotionally and physically uncomfortable, people often take the action of satisfying the urge. It is this action, with all its collateral damage, that is at the root of emotional eating.
The good news is it is possible to experience a craving and choose not to respond with[private_membership circle] any action at all, or only one that will take good care of you. We can simply choose to stay with the energy of a food craving and attend to it; we can even learn to be open and curious about our urges around food, as well as other high-energy emotions and sensations. Often, as craving energy subsides (and it does!), we discover other feelings and needs lying beneath. We are then free to meet, or just listen to, those needs.
An exercise to help you feel safer tolerating food cravings is to choose to invite our craving energy, and practice just feeling the sensations, meeting them with tolerance and curiosity instead of fear. Try this: Sit in front of, or envision, a portion of a favorite binge food at a time when you are not physically hungry. Know that you can have this food the next time you are hungry if you want it, but for now you are going to choose not to eat the food. See if you experience the impulse to eat, and the desire to act on this impulse. Notice the intention to reach for a bite, the anticipation of its taste. Notice where these sensations are located. Are they physical? Emotional? Both? Allow yourself to feel this energy build and see if it transforms in any way. Remember that this is only energy. You are learning about your cravings now so you can respond to them next time with less fear and more understanding of their pattern.
If you wish, you may consider a way to release the energy you feel. Try flexing and releasing the areas of your body where you feel the craving. Alternate between tensing and releasing until your body has had enough. See if the energy changes in any way. You may also wish to be curious about any emotions you feel during a craving. Can you give them a label? How about a color or a shape? Try being curious about whatever feelings you experience. Can you hear what your feelings might need from you?
Stay for as long as you like. You may notice the craving abate over time. Remember any urge to overeat is your system’s way of trying to protect you from needs or feelings that were once dangerous to express. That is no longer the case. Learning to tolerate craving energy means one less reason to try to meet your needs with food.
Amy Pershing LMSW, ACSW, Clinical Director, The Center for Eating Disorders, Director, Bodywise Binge Eating Recovery Program and The Bodywise Intensive www.stopcompulsiveeating.com Board Member, Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDAonline.org)
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