Have you ever felt like you just ‘need’ to eat that piece of cake?

You KNOW it’s emotional, you KNOW it has something to do with things other than your hunger but it doesn’t matter, you just ‘need’ it anyway?

If you’re reading this then I guess you have been there. A. Lot.

You have felt that urge to ‘treat yourself’ and you are damn well going to go ahead and do just that.

What is really happening here?

I have written extensively on how we use food to hide from our feelings, see these blog posts here and here for more. But what is this use of food actually signalling?

It is not just that we want to hide from our feelings. it can be something a little more sinister and confusing and therefore a little harder to overcome on our own.

Much of the time our emotional eating stems from the fact that we do not feel worthy or lovable and we seek comfort in food. We also have beliefs that thin people are more worthy, loved and therefore happier than us.

So when we emotionally eat we actually hitting ourselves with a double dose of self-hatred. We are eating in such a way that we are punishing ourselves for 1) having feelings of unworthiness and 2) not being thin.

Let’s dive in to this a little deeper.

First, we are saying to ourselves that we are unworthy and unlovable and that that pain is too much to bear. We do not want to feel these feelings therefore we will eat instead.

Second, eating more is a surefire way of moving away from the ‘thinness’ we desperately desire therefore relegating us to a place where we will be ‘fat’ and therefore objectively and resolutely not worthy or lovable…

What…?!!

What kind of Jedi mind tricks are we playing on ourselves here…

There is literally so much warped psychology around our eating patterns that it is not only unhealthy but frankly disturbing.

When we emotionally eat under any circumstance, no matter how it makes us feel, even if we find it ‘comforting’ what we are really doing is eating to punish ourselves for having feelings. We are also eating as a way of keeping ourselves stuck in a scenario we don’t want to be in.

Eating as punishment frequently trips us up because we aren’t even tuned in to the fact we are doing it. We think we are being kind to ourselves by ‘indulging’ but unless we have truly freed ourselves from all our diet and food related demons then all we are doing is perpetuating a negative cycle.

If this sounds confusing….trust me I know. Most importantly, does this sound like a minefield you would like to get yourself out of?

If yes then comment below or send me an email at sasha@sashafardell.com and let’s chat.

If you haven’t already check out my FREE TRAINING on how to stop Emotional Eating TODAY – just click here