Eating Disorders

The only time a person EVER “falls off a wagon” is when there’s a wagon to fall off of;  a set of rules, ideals, or beliefs around food that we let determine how we feel about ourselves. “I was sooo good with food yesterday, and today, I SUCK.” Sound familiar? and I’m guessing when you go into the place of “I suck,” when you “fall off the wagon,” you fall hard…like knee-deep-in-brownie-batter-hard.  Not fun, and so avoidable.  If you want to make peace with food, and stop shame-eating cookies in the middle of the night, Ask yourself, what “wagons” am I trying not to fall off of? Where am I judging my performance with food? Where …

Sweets drive you crazy? Can’t have one bite of ice cream without eating the whole pint? Maybe it’s chips? Peanut Butter? Kentucky Fried Chicken? Feel free to get weird. And let me tell you a little something about your favorite “addictive” foods. The only time you will ever feel “out of control” around a specific food, is when you’re trying to control it to begin with. Somewhere, somehow, you are judging, shaming, or limiting yourself around that food. You are calling it “bad.” You are wishing you didn’t want it. You are worrying you will lose control, gain weight, get caught. You are handing that food power over you, by fearing it. If you don’t believe me, try naming one food that “drives you crazy…

Here’s the thing about the diet-binge cycle that nobody talks about…it’s not dieting, in a vacuum, that triggers it.  It’s wanting to control your weight, that triggers the dieting (in various forms), that triggers it. Every time I ask a client, “why is it so scary to let go of controlling your food?” the answer is invariably, “I’m afraid I’ll gain weight.” Duh. Fear of weight gain controls us. Fear of weight gain is why “it’s so hard to let go,” or “I’m not there yet,” Fear of weight gain backs us up against a wall and says “you don’t have a choice in this matter,” Get thin or die.  When you let yourself be controlled by your fear of …

The only time a person EVER “falls off a wagon” is when there’s a wagon to fall off of;  a set of rules, ideals, or beliefs around food that we let determine how we feel about ourselves. “I was sooo good with food yesterday, and today, I SUCK.” sound familiar? and I’m guessing that when you go into the place of “I suck,” when you “fall off the wagon,” you fall hard. Like knee-deep-in-brownie-batter-hard.  Not fun, and so avoidable.  If you want to make peace with food, and stop shame-eating cookies in the middle of the night, Ask yourself, what “wagons” am I trying not to fall off of? Where am I judging my performance with food?  …

Most of my clients think that emotional eating is a curse. That it’s an unfortunate defect they’ve been blighted with, and they were dealt a bad hand in life when it comes to food and weight. “Poor me! I’m sick of this! Will this food problem ever not torment me?!” Or something along those lines. But here’s my take on it… I’m not sure emotional eating is a bad thing. In fact, I think it might be my guardian angel.  I know this is the part where you think I’m a crazy person, but hang on a sec. Emotional eating is an attempt to deal with a tough problem, feeling, or situation we don’t otherwise know how to deal with, and often don’t even …