Freedom With Food

Many of us want freedom from diets and food rules because at some point we were so restrictive and harsh with ourselves that we can't bear the idea of going back to that place. I think this is a good, necessary & healthy step.

However, I've often seen this turn into something that doesn't feel like freedom.

Sometimes food starts to become too powerful. It may feel as if you are acting against your own will. You may feel as if you are suffering consequences that you don't want. You may feel as if you aren't showing up for yourself or in your life in the way that you want to.

And no matter how many times you tell yourself to "get your act together" you can't seem to escape the patterns you are in. You may start to feel shame & hopelessness. You might believe you can never change.

This is not freedom.

When we use food (or drink) as a way to cope we are held hostage. We become a victim of our circumstances.

The real issue isn't the food. Food isn't "good" or "bad" but food does have consequences (good and bad) that we can objectively observe.

It's never really about the food, or the overeating, or the weight. It's about what these things represent to you. It's about the why.

The real issue is how we feel about ourselves and if we have the skill set of being able to manage and process our feelings in a way that is healthy & beneficial.

Part of the human experience is feeling a range of emotions, positive & negative. Being a lower weight doesn't mean you will be happy all the time & being thin certainly doesn't make you more lovable or worthy.

True, healthy weight loss/living comes down to being able to compassionately observe and process this human experience while simultaneously learning to show up for yourself no matter what is happening externally.

It's about taking full ownership of your life and your emotional well-being.

It's not always easy & it's certainly not fast, but it's the only way to true health & true freedom.

So, the question then is, how do we process emotions?

I created a short video as a part of my Overcoming Emotional Eating mini-course along with a supplemental worksheet that walks you through a step-by-step process for managing negative emotions. Keep in mind that this is a skill that you get to practice. Allow yourself some time and space to work on this, it’s okay if you don’t get it right away. It’s okay if you still use food to buffer as you start to implement this but just know that the more you learn to process negative emotions, the less scary & powerful they become.

To learn more click the video below.