Recently, one of my coaching clients came to a session with this proclamation, “I don’t like it!” She was referring to what happens when she eats more food than she planned or when she puts food back into the role of her “distractor” or her primary “soothing agent”. When she finds herself refocused on food, she says, “It’s like putting layers and layers of cotton batting around me”.
Now, more conscious and more skilled at handling any choice she makes, she says she can stop the blame and downward spiral, before it fuels emotional eating.
“I used to be so afraid after I ate some high calories meal or dessert, even a soda, that it would be the beginning of eating out-of-control. I’d think, now I won’t be able to stop. Today, if I eat more than my body needs, or I overeat because something tastes really good, I‘m no longer afraid I’ll be out of control….now I just take in the information about what I ate, without fear or judgment…it’s just information that helps me make healthy choices as the day continues.”
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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
