People often overeat because they have learnt from their childhood conditioning that certain foods will help them to feel better if they experience negative emotions.
Emotions are created by beliefs in a person’s subconscious mind.
For example:
- A feeling of anxiety is created by believing that something bad may happen in the future
- A feeling of excitement is created by believing that something that is happening or is about to happen is fun and pleasurable
- A feeling of sadness is created by believing that something has been lost
One way to change eating patterns is to change or avoid feeling the emotions in the first place, so there is less of a desire to eat to feel better.
There’s a three-step process to doing this:
1) Discovering the various emotions that a person feels
2) Identify the beliefs that they have that have created the emotion
3) Use EFT (Emotional Freedom Teachnique) tapping to clear the emotions and change the beliefs
To help you to get started on this process, I’ve listed in this blog, the five most common emotions that I see overeaters experience. I’ve also briefly described the cause of each emotion.
If you know that you are emotional eater, have a think about your own thoughts and emotions as you read through the list.
1) Anger
This is probably the most common emotion that causes overeating.
People who eat due to anger fall into at least one of these categories:
- a) People who are angry at someone in their lives today or
- b) People who are angry at someone in their past.
The psychological (belief) cause of anger is a combination of:
- a) Expecting someone to behave in a certain way and they didn’t
- b) Believing that you have lost out as a result of this person not doing what you expected them to do i.e. loss of money, loss of self-esteem
What I find with clients is that once we clear the anger, they often feel another emotion and that is sadness. They are sad at how they have lost out as a result of someone not meeting their (usually perfectly reasonable) expectations.
If you are feeling angry, ask yourself “how am I hurt by this situation?”
2) Sadness
This emotion is caused by the belief that you have lost something. That something can be a thing, a relationship or a person.
3) Loneliness
This emotion is experienced when you are either not connecting with people enough or you are not connecting with the right people for you.
4) Boredom
This emotion is experienced when you are not stimulated enough in life. You are not having enough variety and fun
5) Overwhelm/Stress
These emotions are experienced when you are struggling to meet your expectations of what you believe that you need to do or be
Do you recognise any of these emotions? Are they the cause of your eating habits?
There are various things you can do to change beliefs, which in turn will change your emotions.
As I mentioned before one of the best methods that I have found to change emotions is EFT tapping. It’s best to work with a trained practitioner to find the beliefs that are causing your emotions and blocking your success.
The even better news is that once you learn how to use EFT, you can use it yourself when you are feeling any negative emotions in between sessions. This means that you don’t have to wait until you see a practitioner to feel better! It’s a fantastic self-help tool.
I’m an EFT practitioner who specialises in changing people’s beliefs that cause emotional eating and prevent weight loss. If you would like to find out how I can help you, I offer free 20 minute discovery calls to discuss your problem. If you are interested in a session, email me at emma@themindmermaid.com
I hope this blog helped to shed some light on your situation
Until next time
Emma x