Tag Archive | Emotional Trauma

Forget About Your Food Addiction for a Moment

Jan31

When we are troubled about something, especially something like a food addiction or an emotional eating problem like binge eating, it’s hard not to focus our attention on it.

However, since we attract to ourselves that which we place the most attention on, it’s a good idea to forget about our food addictions for as many moments as possible throughout the day.

The best way I’ve found to do this is to focus your thoughts and attention on the good things in your life and the things you like about yourself.

Let those things you like about yourself and your life overshadow the dread of measuring up to what society or your friends think you should look like. That only makes the food addiction worse.

We are who we are. And when we can become whatever we want to be, we will still be who we are. The best parts of ourselves are always with us, even when we forget about them.

We can’t change the past, so let it go and concentrate on the present. Forget about your food addictions and use food to change your life and your body to the way you want it to be.

We can have a simple win every day by focusing our attention on those things that will bring us what we desire. It’s hard at first, but it gets easier with practice.

Speak kindly to yourself, with respect and honor, and most of all, with love. The love energy of the heart will help to alleviate the emotional pain the fear energy of the mind can cause.

Create your own life anew each and every moment and you will have enough good memories to make you forget about your food addiction and enjoy your own beautiful self in your own new beautiful life.

Fear and Food Addiction

Jan5

Fear has a way of getting in your head and drawing you to the things you want most to avoid. When you focus too strongly on your fears,  what you fear comes to control you.

If you’re a food addict, you might fear food because of the power it can wield over you at moments of emotional vulnerability. If you do fear food, you’re in a rough spot.

We have to eat in order to live so this is one time when you have no choice but to overcome your fear of food. The more you fear something, the more you draw it to you. It’s the Law of Attraction in the worst way.

There’s a lot you can say about fear, but I just want to say this: You either come from your heart or your mind. If you’re heart-centered, you’re in the love and trust zone. If you’re letting your mind rule the roost, you will be saddled with fear and doubt.

Since food addictions are linked to unresolved emotional trauma, there is usually an injured heart involved. Where there is not enough love, fear steps in and fills the void.

The rescue remedy for today is to fill your heart with love whenever you feel afraid. Let the mind be, and feel the love. Capture a happy moment, a memory, a sunset, a time when you felt free and alive.

Close your eyes, take some deep breaths, and feel the moment. Fully experience that moment of happiness when fear was nowhere to be found.

Use this simple exercise to fill your heart with love. Go within where there is no fear. Trust your inner being, which is the source of true power.

Food addiction cannot stand against love because it is powered by fear. Fear and love do not co-exist.

Corny as it may sound, if  you practice choosing love, the habit of doing so will help you overcome your food cravings and bring you the greater gift of peace of mind.

Food Addiction and Emotions

Dec10

Emotional eating has a number of patterns. The most basic one is a reaction pattern of stuffing down feelings of temporary emotional anguish such as sadness or rejection.

Food addiction adds a wrinkle to the emotional eating pattern. Since every food addict has specific foods that are addictive and specific emotions that trigger the overeating, it is important to understand the underlying causes of the addiction.

The emotional triggers can surface at any time so until the underlying cause is identified and healed, steps must be taken to minimize the risk of overeating at the time of these emotional flareups.

One thing you can do is to make sure these foods are not readily available when the overwhelming hunger strikes. If they are, it may take days to break the overeating cycle.

Emotional eaters tend to eat until the feelings are soothed. A person with a food addiction just keeps eating, beyond discomfort and even to the point of pain. There is no emotion to soothe, just a bottomless pit filled with unidentifiable shame.

Shame is a debilitating emotion, powerfully negative and capable of sending anyone on the verge over the edge. The trigger snaps and we eat until we stop eating.

Of course, the best solution is to work with a therapist as well as participating in self-help programs that help you identify the emotional trauma that “started it all”.

The trouble with shame is that it is both the tormentor and protector. Shame and blame are dark twins who rarely travel alone. Learn how to recognize them.

While sorting it all out, try to keep the “danger foods” out of the house. Make it harder to get to them. No stashes in the pantry or the car, and no eating in the bathroom stall.

Set some ground rules, even if only for one week at a time. If you can follow them for one week, then you can set another time goal.

The important thing is to take some kind of action every day that will move you one step closer to a healthier life for yourself.

Anatomy of a Food Addiction

Nov27

Tonight I want to tell you about a terrific book by Anne Katherine, written about food addiction and compulsive eating. The book is titled Anatomy of a Food Addiction: The Brain Chemistry of Overeating. You can get it online in paperback for around $10.00.

When she first wrote it in 1991, I had been working at a psychiatric facility. I saw some things there that made me realize that I wanted to uncover and get to know the real me. One troubling aspect of my life was my relationship with food.

The stress at the facility was immense and the administrator was a control freak, a very cruel and destructive one at that. I recognized what a valuable resource a good therapist could be so I availed myself of the contacts I’d made since I took the job. Soon afterward, I left  the facility.

Anne Katherine’s book did not reach me in my younger years because my food addiction was not a major concern. I was usually never more than 20-30 pounds overweight and no one seemed to notice, except me .

I played down the addictive behaviors. When I attempted confide in someone, they laughed at me and called me a drama queen. But I knew it was serious business.

When I finally found someone to take me seriously, it was a very special clinical psychologist whom I saw for several years off and on. Between the two of us, we were able to uncover the emotional trauma that had been buried for decades under my food addiction.

Finding Anne Katherine’s book again was a blessing. There are exercises included in the text. They  help you find your own answers, as all food addicts must  if we are to overcome our fear of food and the emotions that send us on an eating spree that doesn’t stop until the pain goes away.

There are all kinds of programs for compulsive eaters but the best ones start with education. When you read this book, you will be able to relate to it, if not identify with it.

Everyone needs a starting place, and this may be your chance to find it. You’ll probably get the best deal if you go to amazon.com, but the library will work just as well.

Happy reading!