Taking Care of the Emotional Self
For this week’s Monday Mailbag, I asked how you go about taking care of your emotional self.
Emotional eating isn’t something every overweight person has to deal with. Some people need nutritional guidance and they lose the weight. Some people just have to find a healthy eating program that works for their personality and they lose the weight.
Other people have the ‘lighter’ emotional eating problems. For them, most often a food diary is helpful because they realize when they are eating because they are bored rather than because they are hungry.
For some of us, though, the issues go deeper. They can go a lot deeper.
Sometimes food is the one thing that has always been there. The one thing that has never and will never betray. Or perhaps, food and binging feels like the one thing a person can control in life. In very sad times, stuffing one’s body until they hurt is the only way to feel after a person has gone numb to the world.
Other times, the emotional attachments are murky, and it’s hard to figure out exactly what they are and how to deal with them.
To be completely honest, the emotional side of eating is something I haven’t been sure about how to approach. For the sake of simplicity, I’m pairing up the emotional side of eating along with the psychological side. If I need to, I’ll separate them.
I have a starting point, and for that I am grateful, but I don’t know where to go from here. I’d really rather not go to a therapist, but that might be my only answer. I’ll definitely try journaling first and reducing negative self-talk.
Any suggestions are welcome.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Fwiw, I think your approach is appropriate. You may uncover some solutions through journaling, and stopping the negative self-talk is, to me, the equivalent of stopping the bleeding.
One thing you may want to consider is the *potential* value of time saved in talking to a therapist or counselor. If you think seeing someone might help you resolve some issues or find some answers more quickly, a visit or three might be worth the effort and costs.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Negative self-talk is a biggie. I think it’s one of the biggest reasons people fall off the wagon and don’t get back up.
You’re right about saving time by going direct to a therapist or counselor. If I can find someone experienced with food issues, I could be on my way a lot sooner. As it is, I’m confused.
I might leave it and mention it at my next appointment at the women’s clinic in May.
March 21st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
You could look into Overeaters Anonymous (http://www.oa.org.au/index.htm) …you wouldn’t necessarily have to attend meetings if you don’t want to, but I reckon their website could offer some helpful resources to get you started on the path you want to take to recovery. No costs, either–these organisations are self-supporting, I believe.
Good luck…
April 5th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Thank you for the link. To be honest, the site gave me heebie jeebies because of my past experiences, but it does offer a lot of information.