Emotional Eating, My Take On It

Sarah from going bananas "http://www.goingbananasblog.com/" just posted her thoughts about emotional eating and how it affects our abilities to go and maintain a raw food lifestyle. I thought I would chime in with my own experiences with this.

People use food with the mistaken belief that it will comfort them and shelter them from negative, destructive feelings. Whereas, it is very well known in psychology that the only way to truly heal an emotional wound is to fully express it.

In my experience, I have noticed that everytime I've turned to food after an emotional upheaval it was not to comfort myself, but to punish myself. If I fight with a loved one, like my child or my spouse, I blame myself for my part of the problem and invariably my thoughts turn to bad food choices, choices I know will have a negative physical impact on me. This starts a vicious circle of more self-loathing if I do succomb to the bad choices.

Dr. Rozalind Graham has explained in the video "How to Make Friends with Your Food", that these thought patterns come from unresolved feelings of parental abandonment and disapproval from our childhood.

I now take comfort in this knowledge because I can reason with myself when unhealthy food cravings occur. I think it truly is a question of learning to love and accept ourselves completely. Still on the road to health and happiness...