Home > Work > Breaking Free from Emotional Eating
1 " When we give up dieting, we take back something we were often too young to know we had given away: our own voice. Our ability to make decisions about what to eat and when. Our belief in ourselves. Our right to decide what goes into our mouths. Unlike the diets that appear monthly in magazines or the thermal pants that sweat off pounds, unlike a lover or a friend or a car, your body is reliable. It doesn't go away, get lost, stolen. If you will listen, it will speak. "
― Geneen Roth , Breaking Free from Emotional Eating
2 " Pay careful attention to the bodily sensations that you recognize as hunger. When you feel yourself starting to get hungry, sit down for a few minutes (and if you can’t sit down, stand still). Where in your body do you experience hunger? In your throat? Your chest? Your stomach? Your legs? How is this sensation different from the sensation, let’s say, of excitement? Or loneliness? What happens to you when you feel yourself getting hungry? Do you feel that you need to eat immediately? "
3 " When you are not hungry and decide to eat, choose a food that you ate that day when you were hungry. Be aware of: 1. how the food tastes 2. how the taste was different when you were hungry 3. if you enjoy it as much as when you were hungry 4. what, since it’s not hunger, you are feeling 5. how you know when to stop eating "
4 " Take about fifteen minutes to complete the following five lists: 1. Things I Want That I Don’t Have (a new car? a thin body? a different job? a new relationship? a baby?) 2. Things I’ve Wanted That I’ve Gotten 3. Wanting Allows Me To . . . ? What does wanting give you? How does it help you? Does it give you a goal to always be working on? Does it give you a pleasant fantasy? Does it protect you from disappointments by keeping you locked into a fantasy? 4. How My Life Would Change If I Got Those Things (Do this quietly and by yourself.) Go down your list and next to each item you want, write a brief description of what would happen if you got it. Be specific. And honest. If you feel that having a baby would give you the chance to really love for the first time in your life, and in so doing would complete you, write that. Don’t hold back, no matter how dreamy or romantic or ridiculous your imaginings sound. Better to get them on paper and look at them instead of holding them inside as vague, dreamy impressions. 5. How My Life Has Changed Now That I Have What I Wanted (Do this as quietly as you did number 4.) Especially note things that have brought long-lasting happiness. "