The topic at my EAT WELL class today was emotional eating and the intimate connection we have with food. The second half of the session was an uplifting and rejuvenating yoga class led by Michelle Uy. Tonight during the yoga portion of the class, I totally had my own emotional release.
As I was lying on my back with a lavendar eye pillow covering my peepers, feeling like my whole body was sinking into the floor, I felt this incredible force of joy and calmness all around me. And it opened the door to clarity. Clarity about some things in my life that have been troubling me. Without going into details, I want you to know how thankful I am that you are reading this blog right now, that you are opening your heart and allowing me to share my knowledge about how food can your medicine or your poison.
There's no doubt about it, what we put in our mouth is driven by our emotional state. This is a simple fact that no one can dispute. Yet for the thousands of diet books out there, how many really address this very important point?
Dr. Doreen Virtue wrote an amazing book about emotional eating. And in this book, she shared that we use food and alcohol to suppress our emotions. As our day slows down we tend to be more in a position of feeling what is not going right in our lives. Then we use food or alcohol to suppress these awarenesses and feelings. But why do we do this? Because we are afraid to feel. This is why anti-depressants are one of the most prescribed drugs in North America and no one is getting happier from them other than the pharmaceutical executives. Why not truly feel your emotions? What about not hiding from them and addressing them head on?
These are some of the most common emotional connections to food. This should help bring some clarity:
Ice cream or cheese -- Filling emptiness
Bread & refined carbs -- Need for comfort and calm
Chocolate -- Hungry for love, feeling rejected
Salty foods -- Anger, stress, anxiety
Do any of these sound familiar? Understanding why you choose certain foods is key to moving past your cravings and on to feeling your absolute best ever. If you don't address the root cause (your emotions), then these foods will always have control of you no matter how many detoxs or diet plans you try.
So how do you stop eating unhealthy foods that you are emotionally connected to and eat for joyous health? Firstly, awareness is a step in the right direction. Being aware of your emotional connections with food and writing them down in a journal. Awareness brings about change. Now here's how you can really evolve because this topic is simply one that cannot be captured in a blog article.
We have another 6-week EAT WELL FEEL WELL class starting in April. This program may in fact change your life! We are expecting it to be sold out again. So if you are interested in embarking on a journey to create a new relationship with food and changing your life for good, for the better, then this is the course for you. Please visit the facebook page for details: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140074199050
I hope to see you there!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joy McCarthy and Vanessa Reksodiputro, Andrew Revesz. Andrew Revesz said: RT @joyoushealth: Are u an emotional eater? Learn what foods connect to what emotional state here: http://tinyurl.com/ykd9mxw [...]
ReplyAwesome article! I know we talked about emotional eating and I thought that I was not one, but I do crave the salty food quite frequently - interesting to know what it is associated with (makes sense even!). Thanks Joy! :)
ReplyThis article really hit home for me. I'm totally an emotional eater and it's tough because I probably crave all these foods. I helps to know the connection to these foods though because I will now be more aware of where my cravings are coming from. I need to lose about 30lbs... I might be interested in your eat well feel well course :)
Reply