Breaking Our Emotional Connection with Food

Food is a very common way to self sooth. They call it comfort food for a reason. But what happens when you are trying to get in shape and you keep reaching for unhealthy food options because you're upset? How do we break that emotional connection with food? Let's talk about that.

Transcript:

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast Working on Amazing.

This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I am using that word rebuild intentionally, because we're specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life.

What does it mean to start over?

Well, I think it can mean many, many, many different things.

But for me, that looked like divorce after a 20-year marriage.

And for my sister, that looked like the very unexpected death of her spouse.

For you, I'm sure it's something completely different.

The commonality, I believe, is when all your hopes and dreams for the future have gone up in smoke.

All your plans, everything you thought life was gonna look like suddenly no longer is viable.

It feels like the rug has been pulled out from under your feet, and it's like you're really starting over.

If that's you, first of all, from the bottom of my heart, I just want to say, I'm sorry.

I know firsthand how overwhelming and just horrific that feels.

But I'm here with hope.

I'm here with encouragement.

I'm here to tell you, it gets so much better.

Countless women have gone through this midlife reboot, and they've come out on the other side better for it.

You are not alone.

You're actually in the right place.

So welcome, welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.

Let's get down to today's episode.

Now, if you'll remember in the very beginning, I said I focused on five areas when I rebuilt my life.

I focused on my spiritual health, my mental health, my physical health, my financial health, and growth and goals.

And so today, our category is going to fall under the umbrella of physical health, and we're going to talk about eating.

Isn't that so fun?

But a lot of times, we want to start maybe a diet, we want to eat healthier.

Like, we have really good intentions, but we slip up.

And so this one also could fall under mental health, because most of the time, these categories overlap, right?

But I want to talk about sometimes why we struggle to let go of food.

And I want to talk about that emotional connection we have with food.

So especially when you're going through, like, a really difficult season, like, feels like you're starting over, after a divorce, after the loss of a spouse.

Sometimes our life feels so topsy turvy.

Everything has shaken, and it just feels so bad, that when we eat something that tastes good, like, that's the one good thing, right?

Everything else has not gone our way.

Everything else is upsetting.

But we know if we eat this particular thing, whatever your thing is, that you might enjoy it for a moment, right?

And so we get this emotional connection with food, because sometimes that's kind of something that can make us feel better.

I mean, they call it comfort food for a reason, because sometimes eating is a way to self-soothe, right?

We have different techniques in our life where we soothe ourself when we get really upset.

And some people, sometimes, it can be food, okay?

So I don't know if you fall into this category, but if you do, you're going to struggle with diet and exercise, because you're going to struggle to give up the food that may be keeping you off track of a healthier lifestyle.

And the reality is, what we eat, our food,