How to kill junk food cravings II
November 18, 2009 by Yafa Sakkejha
Filed under Featured, Health Articles
Last week, we discussed how getting enough nutrients can help eliminate cravings. This week, we’ll examine the relationship between unresolved emotional issues and cravings.
Common Emotional Reasons for Poor Eating
- Depression / sadness
- Loneliness
- Boredom
- Fear (of failure / abandonment / rejection, etc.)
- Anger
- Shame
- Embarrassment
- Hurt
- Happiness / celebration
Thousands struggle with deep-rooted ties between food and emotions. It started when we were children, as our parents would either reward, comfort, or placate us with candy, fries, and so on.
Here’s how you can work towards defeating these strong, but breakable, bonds. Before you start:
- Understand that it will take time: Imagine that you have 5 years to achieve this goal. Relax, and don’t put pressure on yourself. If you do, it could impede your chances of success.
- Stop feeling guilty for eating poorly: Remove all of the stress that you feel when you eat something “unsanctioned.” Tell yourself that you are allowed to eat whatever you want, and let yourself experience that feeling of freedom. This way, you’ll begin to install peaceful associations with food, in order to begin replacing negative feelings.
Dealing with Emotional Baggage
Food binging or cravings are not going to end until you roll up your sleeves and deal with the deep, dark, embarrassing emotional issues that you have not resolved.
This is the hardest part. It’s going to get very messy. It’s going to be painful, difficult, and possibly time consuming.
But it’s the storm before the calm. Afterward, you will be left with more confidence, self esteem, and emotional peace. You also set yourself up for a healthier and longer physical life later on – which is a separate article in itself.
Seek a therapist’s help
- Seek out a therapist’s help.
- “Journey” Practitioners are highly trained, highly effective professionals who help you uproot and solve lingering emotional traumas. We highly recommend Annette Nolan’s practice: she has much experience in helping people resolve deep-rooted issues.
Seek help from a trusted family member or friend
- Find someone who you trust, and talk to them about what you’re going through. Request that they listen, and only offer advice when you specifically ask for it.
Attend support groups
- Depression Support Groups
- Overeaters Anonymous
- Eating Disorders Groups
- Weight Watchers Meetings
- Emotions Anonymous
Every professional’s process will be different, whether it’s your therapist or group support leader. The following is an example of what the process might look like.
Example
- Confront the underlying negative emotions. For example, if you eat every time you feel like you’re “not good enough,” perhaps your underlying issue is a fear of rejection.
- Feel that emotion fully. Give yourself a chance to finally deal with an emotion that you probably suppressed when it first originated.
- Think back to the first time in your life you ever felt that emotion.
- In your mind, confront that memory head-on: confront the people who hurt you, what you were feeling, and so on.
- Analyze this memory by seeing it from the other person’s perspective – the one who hurt you. Imagine what the other person would say if you confronted them.
- The goal is to find peace at the end of this confrontation through realizing new truths that you were oblivious to before; an example might be, “the person who hurt me was just jealous of my situation, and was trying to protect their own ego.”
This article only scrapes the surface of what needs to be done in order to solve this problem. Please use this as just a starting point for your own journey to resolving your issues.
We wish you the very best of luck!
Photo Credit: Thomas Paquet
