Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Yes, you can eat just one

we each ate 1 raisin, 1 chocolate egg and one tbsp of peanut butter
This last weekend I taught a really cool workshop for our friend Lisa Wolfe's clients at Miracle Fitness in Pasadena. The topic was ''Emotional eating'' and we covered physiological reasons for cravings, spiritual reasons for cravings and of course, emotional eating proper - those times when you use food to satisfy needs other than hunger.

If you get hit by an emotional eating episode and you find yourself in front of the fridge at 1 pm reaching for a jar of peanut butter or a bar of chocolate, close the door and take a seat. There is so much you can do:

1. Reconnect with your body - there is a reason you are feeling uncomfortable - using food to cover it up may work for a while, but it will only make you feeling worse later. Sit down, take a few deep breaths through your nose deep into the bottom and the side of your ribcage. Connect with your breathing, your feet, legs, belly, chest, shoulders, arms. Once you have felt your body you can move on to step 2.

2. Rate the hunger in your body. You can use a scale from 1 to 10. If it's under 7 as in most cases when you have already eaten, yet keep looking for food, you can be sure any amount of food won't fix that hunger.A rating less than 7 is a pretty sure sign you are trying to use food to find a feeling that you need at the moment. Just know, there is always a good reason you are looking for food when your body isn't hungry.

3. Find the feeling. Ask yourself if chocolate or other food you are craving will give you peace, comfort, love, joy? Once you find the feeling, visualize a moment or a time when you were completely enveloped in that feeling? Were you at a beach? Did you just get a promotion? Hug your child? Paint a vivid picture in your mind and let the feeling flow throughout your body.

4. Eat with enjoyment. Once you have reconnected with your body and found the feeling, you can go ahead and have a bit of the food you were craving. If it's chocolate, have a couple of pieces, but be present and enjoy them. Unsure that you can eat just one? Learn how to do that from Geneen Roth, I have mentioned her before, she is absolutely amazing and will lead you through a practical exercise of learning that one is enough.

How did you like that exercise? The raisin part was my favorite one!

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