7 Ways Your Life Will Change After You Stop Emotional Eating

7 Ways Your Life Will Change After You Stop Emotional Eating

Have you tried every diet in the book but can’t seem to keep off the weight? Do you find yourself turning to food when you are happy, sad or even bored? Then it’s time to take control of your eating habits and stop emotional eating in its tracks. 

 

But what is emotional eating? And how do you know if emotional eating is what is keeping you from having a healthy relationship with food and with your body?

 

If you’re tired of exhausting diets that don’t leave you fulfilled, and feel frustrated every time you look in the mirror, you need to make a change. 

 

I was in your shoes not so long ago – restricting, dieting, and counting every single calorie I put in my body, and exercising to the point of exhaustion.

 

…Only to give in to binges and find myself hating my body all the while. 

 

And when I realised I was emotionally eating, and found emotional eating help, I was able to achieve food freedom and heal my relationship with food. 

 

Are you ready to do the same? 

 

Your life can change dramatically for the better when you stop emotional eating, and I’m living proof of it. I’m here to help you understand what emotional eating is, how emotional eating help works, and some of the amazing ways your life will change once you stop emotional eating. 

 

What is emotional eating? 

Emotional eating is when you use food to cope with difficult situations and past traumas, or use food for comfort when you are bored, stressed, angry or grieving. You can even find yourself emotional eating when you’re happy!

 

It’s simply having a hunger response to emotions.

 

But it’s important to note that emotional hunger is not the same as physical hunger. When you have an emotional eating habit, it can be hard to tell the difference. 

 

Usually, emotional hunger is an intense craving for a specific food, often food you don’t usually eat. Oftentimes, this is in the form of sugars, carbs or fatty foods which can relieve stress and release endorphins and serotonin in your body. It literally DOES make you feel better.

 

Until it doesn’t.

 

Often, people who emotionally eat are ashamed of their binges. They then turn to diets and restricting to undo the perceived damage of their eating habits. They may use exercise to “earn” their food or “make up” for a binge because they may be linking emotional eating and weight gain. 

 

While continuously eating large portions or eating past your body’s fullness cues can lead to weight gain (or frequent weight fluctuations), dieting is not the answer. 

 

In fact, dieting rarely works, and can often drive people towards disordered eating in the first place! 

 

It’s a vicious cycle, and one that is hard to break out of. 

 

7 ways your life will change after you stop emotional eating

Everyone emotionally eats sometimes. Maybe you went through a breakup, or had a hard day at work, and you turn to food for relief. But if you find yourself turning to food often, or if food is your ONLY coping mechanism, that might be the time to reach out for emotional eating help. 

 

By working with an experienced coach who takes a holistic approach to healing your relationship with food, you can learn healthier ways to respond to your emotions, heal your relationship with your body, and stop emotional eating for good. 

 

And when you DO stop emotional eating, it will absolutely transform your life. Here are just a few of the changes that I personally experienced – and many of my clients have too. 

 

1. You may enjoy cooking again 

When you stop emotional eating, it allows you to rebuild your relationship with food in a positive way. You will no longer need to cut out food groups or avoid your favourite meals.

In fact, you can revisit some of your old favourite dishes and savour them without any feelings of guilt. 

 

Or, who knows? 

 

You might fall in love with some new foods as well when you give yourself the chance! 

 

If you were following strict diets where fat or carbs or sugar or red meat or anything else was ‘off limit’ to you, you will now be free to eat them, and explore fun and tasty recipes that include them!

For many, the joy of cooking fades away when they are struggling with disordered eating habits like emotional eating. It may have become a boring routine for you – or an anxiety-inducing one. But once you stop emotional eating, you can fall in love with food – and with cooking – all over again (or maybe discover that joy for the first time). 

 

Because cooking is FUN. You get to make something delightfully tasty that nourishes your body and gives you energy and life. What an absolute gift to give yourself! 

 

2. You can eat off the WHOLE menu

The gift of a delicious meal doesn’t stop when you leave the house. When you stop emotional eating, it opens up so many doors – and lets you turn all the menu pages. 

 

When you stop emotional eating, not only will you no longer be afraid to even GO to restaurants, you’ll actually be able to enjoy anything you want off the menu without feeling shame. 

 

Want something smothered in cheese? Go for it. 

 

Feeling like dessert? Knock yourself out.

 

Or maybe you want to share a few options with a friend or loved one. A fabulous choice! 

 

You can even ask the waiter what they recommend – and take those recommendations without a second thought. 

 

Eating at restaurants after you stop emotional eating is an exhilarating experience. 

 

3. You won’t worry about eating in front of others

Now this goes hand in hand with the freedom to eat at restaurants. It may seem like a pipe dream now – but when you stop emotional eating this could be your reality. 

 

I know when I was deep in my cycle of restricting and bingeing and emotional eating, I was extremely self-conscious and full of guilt surrounding my eating habits. 

 

If I could help it, I wouldn’t let ANYONE see me eat. 

 

I’d eat in private at home or in my car before any event that I thought included food. And if someone did happen to see me eat, found the “evidence” or I even thought they knew what I had eaten, I would feel severe shame and self-loathing. 

 

It wasn’t until I got emotional eating help and found food freedom that I was able to eat comfortably around others again. It was such a relief to be able to enjoy a casual (or deep) conversation over food. To share that part of my life with my friends and family without fear or guilt or hesitation. 

 

And if you stop emotional eating, you can learn to love eating around the people you love too. 

 

Because eating should never be something you are ashamed of. You’re just giving your body the nutrients it needs to continue functioning – and you never need to hide that. 

 

4. You won’t have ‘trigger foods’ 

We all have trigger foods when we emotionally eat. Maybe yours is ice cream or potato crisps, chocolate chip cookies, or a tub of fried chicken.

 

Whatever it is, there has been something (and maybe quite a few things) that has been your absolute kryptonite. You know: the food you cannot say no to and find yourself neck deep in before you can think twice. 

 

Well no longer!

 

When you stop emotional eating with emotional eating help and a complete food freedom programme, you learn how to rewire your relationship towards food so that food is no longer triggering to you.

 

You start to see food not as a friend, a foe, or a temptress, but simply as the neutral nourishment that it is. 

 

You may have some you enjoy more than others because of particular tastes and textures, but they won’t come with the labels of “good” or “bad.” Just food! And those that you previously banished from your house (in order to avoid emotionally eating them) will be welcome to come through your door again.

 

Yes, you will be able to coexist with that tub of ice cream or fried chicken in the kitchen. 

 

And THAT is an incredibly freeing feeling. 

 

5. You may experience weight loss

Now I need to start this with a disclaimer – emotional eating help is NOT a weight loss programme. You should never approach recovering from disordered eating habits with the goal of losing weight. 

 

In fact, throw all your diet books and weight loss programmes out the window. True emotional eating help is the farthest thing from diet culture, and if you want to find food freedom, you need to leave diets behind for good.

 

That being said, many people who stop emotional eating find that they DO lose weight, or at least find weight regulation.

 

That’s because they learn to listen to what their body actually needs, and follow physical hunger cues instead of emotional ones. When I work with clients, I even teach them the hunger scale and have them practice using it before and after each meal in order to get reacquainted with their own bodies.

 

Once you are listening to your body and giving it what it actually wants and needs (aka no longer restricting and bingeing) your body will find and regulate a healthy, happy weight for itself. 

 

But even better – you’ll learn to simply not care about that number on the scale. Because your value and worth has nothing to do with the size of your body.

 

6. You will develop a better relationship with yourself

One of the most important pieces of emotional eating help is working from the inside out. Because we all started emotional eating because of internal triggers – so it’s important to look inward and heal those traumas. 

 

When you stop emotional eating through emotional eating help, you learn how to cope with difficult feelings without turning to food. It might be through tapping therapy or meditation or exercise or art, but you will find other healthy ways to cope with negative emotions, intense moments, and day-to-day stress. 

 

You will also work to resolve the traumas that started your emotional eating habits in the first place.

 

And then work to resolve the traumas you have inflicted on yourself.

 

Because many of us are our own worst enemy – especially when we emotionally eat. 

 

The majority of emotional eaters (myself included) have a very complicated relationship with their bodies. 

 

If you hate what you see when you look in the mirror and talk about your own body in a way that you would never speak about a friend’s body…you’re certainly not alone. But it’s also not fair to yourself. Your body does amazing things for you, and you only get one of them, so it’s important to learn to love your body for all the gifts it gives you. 

 

Like rewiring your brain to listen to your hunger cues, learning to love your body is also a process that will take time. But we can get you there!

 

Emotional eating help like intuitive eating and food freedom programmes can help you to form a more positive relationship with yourself, and speak about your body from a place of love and respect. 

 

7. You can find food freedom

When you start emotional eating help, food freedom is usually the end goal. Food freedom means letting go of all the eating rules you thought you knew, doing away with the notion of ‘good or ‘bad foods’ and stepping off the diet bandwagon once and for all. 

 

Food freedom allows you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want it, without feeling shameful or out of control. 

 

It puts you 100% in control of your eating habits, and teaches you to trust your own body instead of all the outside voices that try to tell you how you should look or what you should do with your body. 

 

When you achieve food freedom, you are at peace with food and with yourself. 

 

It really is FREEDOM. 

 

And when you stop emotional eating, food freedom is something you can work towards with the help of a therapist, intuitive eating coach, or emotional eating coach. 

 

Find the right emotional eating help to STOP emotional eating 

If you’ve decided you want to stop emotional eating, congratulations! You’ve taken the first step to food freedom. But finding food freedom is a process that takes time, and usually requires help, so be gentle with yourself through the process. 

 

Years of diet culture and negativity cannot be undone overnight, but you can overcome your emotional eating habits and negative self-talk with the right emotional eating help. 

 

I want you to find what works for you in your journey. But if you want help from someone who has truly been there before – and helped countless others transform their lives after years of emotional eating – please reach out for a chat. 

 

When you’re ready to transform your relationship with food and your body, and truly begin to listen to your body and what it needs, you can start by joining my FREE FB Group here.