Are you an emotional eater?

Food is important for both physical development and emotional nourishment.

When you think about where you live, for many people, it’s much more than just shelter. Your house is also your home. Like the physical support that food gives your body to have healthy bones, cells, organs, etc... your house needs to be structurally strong and sound. BUT, your house also needs to be a place where happy memories are made, where you feel safe and secure and where you can grow emotionally resilient.Food needs to do these things for us too. You can have a great diet (or a structurally sound house) but you can be uncomfortable, unhappy and unsettled if you’re not fostering a healthy relationship with food… just like if you live in a "perfect" house that just doesn’t feel like home. You get my point? Food needs to nourish us emotionally as well as physically to be truly satisfying. 

There’s nothing wrong with associating food to emotions, it’s very normal and natural. We just want to be making sure these are largely positive assocations, not negative ones.

You're not alone.

Over 90% of Australian women who struggle with their weight comfort eat, and over 86% of men who struggle with their weight comfort eat. When it comes to approaches to weight loss, we need to remember that our relationship to food is complex, and overly simplistic message to 'eat less, exercise more' aren't helpful for many.There's a lot of psychology behind what drives people to comfort eat. From conditioning to social influence to biochemistry to escape. I'm certainly not proposing there are quick fixes to emotional eating, but I do know that for many people, fostering a healthy relationship with food is where they need to start.If you’re not sure where to start, try the following:Your environment matters a LOT (control what you can control and don't stress about what you can't), as does making sure you're eating food you actually enjoy. Creating new happy memories with healthy foods (e.g. mango and Christmas!), changing the language you use (focusing on 'celebration', 'joy', 'abundance', 'gratitude'), mindfully eating, eating balanced satiating meals, and getting your beauty sleep are ALL strategies which work well for many. Oh, and restrictive dieting is a no no.Joy McClymont from Off the Track Training and I recently had a chin wag about emotional eating and the dreaded exercise guilt. Click HERE to have a listen to our thoughts and some strategies to overcome the guilt that can be associated with food and movement.