Food serves as a mirror, showing exactly which emotions are prompting our desire to eat. In EI- Club M07, we had covered the concepts of, “Head Hunger” and “Heart Hunger” in detail. We spoke about how to recognize it and what are the possible underlying causes behind each one of them. EI-Club M08, we went little deeper to understand more about emotional check-in at regular intervals to really pay attention to what we are feeling so that it helps us to understand what our real needs are.
“Loving to eat” may provide an excuse for the way food appeases emotional holes in our life.
Sometimes food becomes a substitute for the lack of power in other areas of our life. Most people have a long list of emotional needs that aren’t being met. We yearn for more love, attention, and affection. We crave nurturing, comfort, recognition, and reward. Many days, we struggle to cope with stress or depression or low self-esteem.
As you explore your emotional needs, continue to look for ways to take care of yourself without using food to fill the holes in your life. Take time to pause and tune into your emotions. Ask yourself these questions:
What am I feeling right now?
What do I really need at this moment to deal with my current feelings?
How can I fulfil this need and this feeling?
What is it that I am really lacking in my life?
What feelings am I attempting to keep from surfacing?
What am I running from?
What brings me joy?
What makes my heart sing?
Will a nap be enough, or do you need a vacation? Perhaps you want time alone, but you also need to find new friends. Some days lots of emotional needs will be circling at the same time. Your job is to learn how to identify these needs so you can take the next step of doing something about them without reaching for food.
Recognize your feelings and manage them before you reach out for food because what you need is NOT IN THERE.