Is your emotional eating attached to happy memories?

Think back to the last time that you were stressed, lonely, angry, frustrated, tired or feeling sad.

The term “emotional eater” comes from reaching for your favourite food to calm that inner stress.

The food often makes us feel better in the short term. However shortly after consuming the food, you feel emotionally stressed again. You may even have additional stress, if it is a food that doesn’t support the healthy eating plan that you are aiming for.

Have you ever taken the time to think about your go-to foods? Very often the foods that we reach for to calm our inner stress are attached to a happy memory from our past.

So what we are really reaching for is a happy memory to make ourselves feel better.  

What if you could let go of the need for the food, and could just recall the happy memory to calm the stress? 

My emotional go-to food was popcorn.

In my home growing up, there was usually a lot of yelling and chaos. On a very, very odd evening, the whole family would be home, we would be watching some program on TV together as a family and we would have buttered popcorn as a treat. Everyone was happy and relaxed, conversing in a calm manner and sharing stories. This was a very rare occasion so this is a very happy memory for me. A calm, peaceful, happy evening.

I realized a few years ago that I used to make popcorn a lot, almost nightly when I was alone. When I lived on my own I would have popcorn for supper. I was looking for that good feeling of having family around. It was also a huge habit of mine to make a big bowl of buttered popcorn before I sat down to watch TV, once again looking for that good feeling, of having a treat while watching TV as a happy family unit. Through conscious exploration of my behaviours and Tapping I realized that it wasn’t about the popcorn at all, it was about wanting that feeling of connection and about spending happy, peaceful time with family. I have used Emotional Wellness and Tapping on my popcorn cravings. I still eat popcorn once in a while, but it is definitely not my go-to anymore.  In fact, if I do eat popcorn, I eat less and I quite often have it without the butter, which used to be a must have.  I can recall the happy peaceful memory without having to have the food connected to it.

It is possible with Tapping and Coaching, to adjust food behaviours. Let’s connect and work to resolve them together. I’m here for you.