The Idea of Food

Clients keep teaching me more and more about dysfunctional eating. For instance, that it’s not really food that compulsive or emotional eaters want but the idea of what they wish/hope/perceive food will bring them. This is a crucial distinction. Disregulated eaters turn to food to relax, unwind, kick back, let loose, de-stress, whatever you want to call it. This is what you’re seeking, what you erroneously perceive as the end result of eating or of eating particular kinds of foods. When we’re hungry, our bodies signal wanting food through rumbling bellies, hollowness in the chest, headaches, and light-headedness. When hungry, our bodies aren’t satisfied by watching TV or taking a walk. Alternately, stress signals that our bodies need to relax. When we dive head first into a box of past-the-pull date, tasteless dry cereal, we can’t possibly be into “the food.” Or when we snarf down the leftover crackers we’re putting away after hosting (and eating) a four-course dinner. Can you see that it’s not food you're after? You want what you think eating will bring you. Not food! Though you tell yourself that food will make you feel better, does it actually do that? It may seem to until you swallow and the deed is done and you wish you could unswallow and erase the whole experience. Yet, time and again, you wrongly assure yourself that what you want is food when you want something else. You want what you’ve convinced yourself eating does for you but in truth do...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs