Attaching Emotions to Food

From what I gather, eating disorders happen when you start attaching negative emotions to food and eating. I'm still contemplating whether or not attaching positive emotions will shoot you down the rabbit hole too.

I remember talking to a friend of mine about her relationship with alcohol. My friend was starting to go to AA (Alcoholic's Anonymous) meetings. She told me that she would feel extreme guilt on the mornings after drinking and that she would obsess about when and where she would encounter her next drink. For me, I instantly related this to my previous experiences with an eating disorder. I vividly remember obsessing over the next meal, the number of calories in a meal and ultimately feeling guilt after eating. What I've recently learned is that eating disorders are very closely related to addiction.

The second you start attaching emotions to your food and eating, mainly guilt or shame, you might want to wonder if you have a problem. Guilt and shame fuel reactionary patterns, such as punishment. When you have an eating disorder, what do you do after eating a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's? You hate yourself for it and then punish yourself with hours at the gym, throwing the food up or perhaps starvation. After you've punished yourself enough, you eventually feel better and eat again, and the whole cycle starts over.

The cycle of attaching emotion to food kind of looks like this:

Eating--> feeling guilt/shame-->punishment-->feeling better-->temptation-->eating-->more guilt and shame.  (This is not a fun world to live in)!

A healthy relationship with food looks like this:

Eating--> no longer hungry-->go about your day-->feel hungry again--> eat. (NO EMOTIONS)!

To prevent attaching emotion to food be mindful of your thoughts and language. Do not place any "right" or "wrong", "good" or "bad" judgements on your food or yourself when you're eating. Avoid saying phrases like "Oh we are SO bad for eating this pizza!" Or, "I feel so guilty for that donut."

Here's something to remember: feeling "fat" or "gross" or disgusting" are not emotions! Most likely,  you're actually feeling guilt and shame.

Happy Friday!

xo

Meggasus