Food, Friend or Foe?
Food and Emotional Eating, Food Support Vs Problem??
We all need support; we need support in many different ways and from many different people and things. The reality is we don’t always get the support we need. This happens for many different reasons, we may not be able to ask for it, we may not know what support we need, and we may not have it physically available to us.
Support is different things for different people. To some it may mean help around the house or with their children, to others it may be their friend network that offer emotional support, it may be paid support via helping professionals and to some it may be exercise or food. Yes, I just said food. That may sound crazy but the reality is we are emotional beings and those emotions are entwined with our food choices. It’s what’s known as emotional eating. “Emotional eating”, I feel, gets a pretty bad wrap and most people associate it with negativity and it doesn’t always need to be. Food can be used as a support when the emotional eating that occurs is making us feel good/better and when the food is not being used to disguise or numb what is really going on. We celebrate with food and we console with food, we can have happy childhood memories brought back to life through food and have many amazing celebrations that include family and food.
Many people that come to see me are surprised when I don’t ask them to stop eating particular foods or ask them to stop particular habits that they deem “unhealthy” straight away. I can recognise when food is being used as support, I do it all the time myself and when people are struggling in life I feel it is ok to use it UNTIL we can introduce some alternatives. What is important is to recognise how food makes you FEEL and how it may be SUPPORTING or NUMBING you . I ask clients to look at what areas in their life they have support and where it may be able to be improved? If people don’t have a lot of physical support in their life through other people I don’t think it is a good idea to take away the other things they are using as support such as food straight away without alternatives being developed. That could leave them with little or no support.
When we can recognise what support looks like to us and how we need it, we can change the way we support ourselves. When food becomes our only support or our only emotional outlet, that is when it can turn from support to a numbing problem. Only you can work out on an individual level when food is no longer serving as a support and causing more of a problem. Recognising how you need to be supported and accessing that support is an essential part of overall wellbeing, however it looks for you.
I draw on my transpersonal coaching skills to specifically look at individual behaviors, lifestyle, your emotions & any specific goals you want to achieve. If you would like to book in for a coaching session please make a booking here http://cassandraparrish.com.au/book-online
Cassandra x
