The Emotional Eating Toolkit
Update from Amy in 2022 - Hey, friend. The Emotional Eating Toolkit has been removed as I update it. It’ll be back soon! You can sign up for emails here if you want to be updated when it’s all done. :)
Hello, Gorgeous.
It seems that a lot of us Strongies have a bit of a food problem. For many of us, food rules our lives, but we have to eat it to stay alive, so finding a balance between eating to live and living to eat is a foggy concept that's difficult to comprehend unless you've already found it.
I want you to know that you're not alone in this. Many of us who have struggled with depression and anxiety have also struggled with emotional eating. Whether that's in the form of eating disorders, compulsive overeating or under-eating, or just having a hard time making healthy choices, you are not alone.In fact, most of the clients I've taken on since starting Strong Inside Out have some kind of issue with emotional eating. It makes sense.
The feels can be intense. We're taught that we don't need to experience any discomfort. We're all about the miraculous quick fix: take a pill or hire someone to do it. By golly, just don't try to deal with it! What are you, crazy?!
It's this mindset that's led a lot of us into deep depressions, anxiety attacks and full-blown binges/deprivations. Many people think that "being strong" means stuffing down feelings – refusing to feel them at all – trudging forward as the pain gets worse and worse.I will fully admit that voluntary ignorance and stubbornness was the path I chose for a long time. I just wanted someone to deal with my sh** for me. When no one took care of my emotions for me (the nerve!), I tried to ignore them... which made them stronger. So when the inevitable uprising of everything I'd been stuffing down emotionally came, I didn't know how to handle it.
So I ate.
Eating made me feel like I could escape the anxiety, sadness, loneliness or inadequacies I was feeling if even for a few moments. When I was eating, I was numb to the yucky feelings. Happy hormones flooded my brain, even if they came with intense guilt and sometimes stomach pain.
So I kept eating.
Eventually, I'd come to my senses and realize that my eating was getting out of hand, but it usually came a few pounds and days of low confidence later. I'd pull myself up by the bootstraps, force myself back onto a restricted eating plan, and trudge forward yet again until the feels got too much all over again.Sound familiar? Well, I've got a special gift for you...
This is the moment that cycle ends for good.
Dealing with our feelings as they come up is the true sign of strength. To become stronger than our struggle, we have to find the courage to face it head on.
Be with it.
Feel it.
And then let it go.
Whether you've found it before or not, let me assure you that the ability IS within you. It's not about muscling through restriction; it's about being brave and standing up to your darkness. Refuse to be ruled by it.
I've developed a toolkit to help you take back your power and stay mindful while you eat... and it's free! After years of therapy, self-experimentation, and then applying my knowledge to clients, I've put together my favorite tools to help you:
Confront emotions without getting swallowed by them.
Become more mindful or your food choices and your emotional eating triggers.
Develop the habit of checking in with yourself throughout meals so you can stop when you're actually full (not stuffed).
My dream for you is freedom from the bondage of compulsive eating, and I sincerely hope this toolkit helps you do it!
Here's to your freedom.
Stay strong,
Amy