Fear is Keeping You Stuck in the Emotional Eating Cycle

The Innovative Therapist

Episode 76. Have you ever thought... Why can't I stop emotional eating? Happy, sad, anxious, bored... eating is my go to! Why can't I just cope with my emotions without food like "normal people"! Or,Why can't I have a little more self-control and break out of the cycle? Well today we are going to answer all of those questions, but also I will address questions you may not know to ask, such as... What does emotional eating have to do with fear of death?How does diet culture influence my beliefs about my health and how does that influence my eating habits and keep the emotional eating cycle (aka the diet-binge cycle) going? What can I do to make sure I'm actually using my time on earth well and not wasting it on ineffective dieting, covering my emotions with food, and/or being too afraid to pursue what I really want? Ready to Break the Emotional Eating Cycle? Ready to stop avoiding and break the emotional eating cycle for good? The first step is to disrupt the cycle. If you want some practical ideas for things today besides the standard diet culture BS advice (take a walk, have some water!) then grab my free practical guide today! Anxiety, Fear of Death, & Diet Culture I'll tell you a story about a client named Trish (not a real name or client, but similar to many clients I've worked with over the years). Trish came to me in distress. She was binge eating most days and had gained around 40 lbs over the past year. Prior to that, she had been on every diet under the sun. Her Weight Watcher group leaders knew her by name. She was referred to me by her doctor who told her that since her father died of a heart attack at age 45, she is at risk. Trish was 34 when she came to see me, and she was scared. She felt scared of having a heart attack, but also really upset and embarrassed to have people see that she gained weight. She worked as a teacher and often tried to dress in dark colors and clothes that would hide her weight gain and she felt uncomfortable in her body every day. Let's Talk Anxiety, Health, and Body Image For next week's episode, I sat down with my friend and colleague Dr. Julia King, a fellow psychologist who specializes in anxiety, body image and disordered eating. We cover a lot in this conversation including: How your anxiety is keeping you stuck in a cycle of body image concerns and disordered eatingThe book that totally changed Dr. King and my life, and how you can feel more empowered than ever with how your spend your timeFirst steps to jump out of the emotional eating cycle and address what's really bothering youAnd much more! This week, I'm going to break down some of the concepts we will discuss next week in greater detail so you will be fully ready to absorb the messages and run with it to create a more empowered relationship to food and your body. What is Anxiety? Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, uneasiness and is created by a perception of threat." - Dr. Julia King, Psychologist and Anxiety Expert There is a cycle that exists between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. For example, we often have: Thoughts and Beliefs about ourselves (e.g., "I'm not good enough at this weight" for example), that impact ourEmotions (e.g., fear, anxiety related to health-related fears and/or fears related to not being accepted socially), and these affect ourBehavior (e.g., avoiding social gatherings, not posting pictures of ourselves or hiding in pictures, emotional eating or going on a restrictive diet) Thought - Feeling- Behavior Cycle for anxiety using a weight-related example Anxiety and Fear Keep Us Stuck Anxiety and fears back in the day when we were running from lions was helpful. You see a lion, run away from it, and hopefully escape to safety. The fear goes away. You are safe. Life is good. Now, anxiety and fears often keep us stuck, immobilized. Not taking action towards a life we deeply desire and instead taking action...