How to Overcome Emotional Eating by Ellen Shuman

I was stuck in a self-defeating cycle!

I felt out-of-control with food! I was either overeating or dieting. In either mode, I felt I was never good enough. I had willpower and stick-to-itiveness in many other areas in my life. So why couldn’t I apply that same resolve to my eating habits?

I wasted so much time, energy, and money. I was obsessed with my weight. Living like that was miserable. Today, I understand that weight was not the real problem. It was actually a symptom. The real problem was that

I was an “emotional eater”.

Emotional Eaters use food to manage feelings. We use food to self-soothe. People who have struggled with it,

and the professionals who treat it, call it by many different names; compulsive overeating, emotional eating, and food addiction. No matter what it’s called, people USE food

because food works!

1.Food works as a tension reliever

Both eating food and thinking about food work as distractions from uncomfortable feelings. Being food-

focused takes the edge off any feeling that a person would rather not feel or tolerate (boredom, stress, anxiety, anger, loneliness, etc.).

For example…You’re feeling bored. Suddenly you find yourself thinking about the ice cream in the freezer. As soon as you start to think about the ice cream, you are no longer focused on feeling bored.

Food and food thoughts can be used in reaction to and as a defense against any intense feeling or stressful life situation. The use of food to manage mood becomes a self-reinforcing habit.

(Today, scientists are also focused on the biology & brain chemistry

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BIO:

Ellen Shuman is the founder and Exec. Director of the WellCentered Eating Disorder Treatment Programs &
www.aweighout.com, which conducts Phone Coaching & Groups about Emotional Eating to people worldwide. A Peabody/Emmy Award winning journalist, Shuman entered the wellness field in 1992 following an appearance on
the Oprah Winfrey Show. Today, she speaks nationally on the subjects of emotional eating, body image & size-ism.

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