AT THE AGE OF 23 I WAS MISERABLE
and determined that I was finally done and ready to get off the emotional eating and dieting rollercoaster. However, I didn’t realize this at the time, but I was avoiding my secret thoughts and most importantly my secret feelings. Heaven forbid I showed my true emotions, used my voice to verbalize what I thought and how I felt! You see, suppressed trauma causes guilt, shame, embarrassment, and unfortunately self-harm. Emotional eating is a form of self-harm. While at the time it feels very comforting and soothing, but at the core, it is an attempt to stuff your emotions to temporarily erase the thoughts bombarding your mind; and this is where the cycle begins. Oh the times I’ve sat on the couch crying over a traumatic event that I had no control over, crying while eating an entire bag of family size Doritos, is unimaginable!
I even coined Friday nights as my Blockbuster Nights, but that was just a cover-up to emotionally eat the stress from the week! I even had friends joining me! They would purchase microwaveable popcorn for me to enjoy, and some would even purchase gift cards to Pizza Hut! Woooohoooo! I hit the jackpot, no one knows about this little secret AND they’re active participants! SCORE!
MY JOURNEY AS AN EMOTIONAL EATER STARTED SO SUBTLY
As a child I watched my mother care for several older adults who suffered from various illnesses such as diabetes, and kidney and liver disease. I was determined not to have the unfortunate fate of these older adults, so at 10 years old I asked my mom to purchase a few workout VHS tapes for me. I would work out twice a day, doing Tammy Lee Webb’s Buns of Steel and Abs of Steel videos. I was determined not to be overweight and unhealthy, it worked! So I thought! Then, a traumatic childhood experience sent me on a rollercoaster of not eating to completely over-eating throughout the day and always asking “What’s for dinner!” even during the wee hours of the morning! This pattern would continue throughout early adulthood.
Are You An Emotional Eater?
Do you use food as comfort instead of addressing your feelings and everything going on within your heart and mind? Maybe you do not even know why you are eating; you just know that your weight fluctuates a lot! You go on a diet every Monday, only to experience a setback by Wednesday which destroys the entire diet, so you have to start all over again on Monday; and you repeat this cycle every week of the year. If this sounds like you, then you may be an emotional eater.
How Do I Work with My Clients?
The average emotional eater intellectually knows she needs to lose weight, but emotionally, reaching that goal feels like pushing a boulder up the side of a mountain. Here is the reality, just because your mind wants you to lose weight does not mean your body will necessarily follow suit. The logical part of your brain and your core emotions are always at war, hence the reason you find yourself yo-yo dieting!
You are so used to ignoring your emotions and getting angry and frustrated with yourself when you break a diet instead of understanding why. I work with you to connect logic with emotions, slow things down a bit and begin tuning in to your body, connecting to your feelings, expressing your needs, learn new coping skills, and stop beating yourself up and blaming yourself, but rather use food to fuel and nourish your body. I teach you to understand why that piece of food looks so good at any given time and help you learn that it is not really what you want.
SIMPLY PUT, WHAT I TEACH IS A FORMULA!
The #1 reason why most people start a diet and do not stick to it is that they lack a formula! You can take any hardworking person, but if they lack a formula for success, they simply work.
I provide you with a proven formula that works!
A formula that will empower you to manage your life without an unhealthy dependency on food.
