You’ve probably heard that the how you speak to yourself can lead to more or less self-esteem depending on what you say, what words you use, and the tone (negative or positive). It might be a conversation in our own mind, but there is power in your inner dialogue!

Recent research shows that speaking to yourself can also help sooth anxiety and reduce feelings of stress. Instead of hiding from these intense emotions, addressing them in a curious and kind way allows you to go slowly and see that they aren’t as overwhelming once you look at them. We’ve all been in the situation where putting our head in the sand has made a task seem that much more impossible.

While you may wish your anxiety would go away, there is no need to fight it. Begin with first observing what you are feeling—is it a flutter in your chest? An electric feeling up your legs?—and then ask your anxiety what is the concrete cause for these reactions. Maybe it is an upcoming review of your work at your job or you’re feel...

“Why do I eat emotionally? What do I get out of it?”

Sound familiar? We know emotional eating gives us feelings of shame and guilt, it can lead to weight gain, it can begin a spiral of negative self-talk, none of this we would volunteer to experience. But emotional eating gives us other things too; it is powerful. When you let your emotions guide what you eat, it isn’t about what you eat but why.

Eating emotionally…

… works as a distraction: you’re focussed on the food and not how you feel. In some scenarios, you eat so much you can only focus on the physical discomfort of overeating and not on the emotional discomfort.

… gives us pleasure: we reach for foods—like mashed potatoes, doughnuts, and pizza—that overload our senses (our mouth waters, our nose loves the smell). Sometimes the foods we reach for can even remind us of happy memories: meals at grandma’s house, birthday parties with friends, or even incredible meals had on vacation.

… gives us a sense of control. When everyth...

We’ve got some more client insights for you! When it comes to working on your mental health in therapy many people have ideas about what it will be like based on what they see in movies and on TV… But it isn’t often like that at all! Therapy is personal and it can be challenging at times too. Often, clients are surprised by certain things that come up for them while working through traumatic experiences. Here are a few examples that hopefully you can relate to, or at the very least give you a more realistic idea of what others have been through.

My binge eating got worse before it got better. 

This is incredibly common! Being honest and open in therapy means that you are working through some very strong emotions and reliving some parts of your trauma. If eating has been the way you’ve chosen to sooth or distract yourself from these feelings in the past, you will absolutely use emotional eating again as a tool. And that is ok! The more you can take pressure off yourself in your ses...

1. Why did you create the First Step Course? 

After 11 years of working with clients on emotional eating, I noticed that there are common patterns and strategies that all clients can benefit from. So, I set out to package these great pieces of information into a course that could be accessible to more people—and it became the First Step Course!

Also, my client roster is currently full, but I wanted to make sure I could still help people who struggle with emotional eating. It is much more common than our shame would have us believe.

2. Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone who feels they need support with emotional eating. There is a focus on what is emotional eating and why we do it (and how we get stuck in the cycle).

The great thing about this course is that while there are common triggers for emotional eating, this course will not only help you identify them, it will also help you build strategies to support your own needs. That way you are better prepared when...

It can be a difficult time of year for many people. While holiday movies portray happy families and festive get-togethers, it can leave many of us feeling left out if we don’t have the ‘perfect’ holiday experience.

Abuse, loss of a loved one, comments about your weight, divorce, missing loved ones due to Covid-19 restrictions, eating disorders, pressure to drink alcohol, are all situations that can make people uncomfortable and dread the upcoming holiday season.

To make the holiday season a bit more bearable, start with what you can control. You don’t have to say yes to every gathering (even if it is with family). In fact, saying “no” is a great example of setting clear boundaries with others and is a great way to protect your mental health. It can be freeing to not put yourself in a situation you know will be triggering.

And on that note: do some thinking around what might be triggering you. You can talk to someone you trust—or reach out to a professional—or grab your journal and l...

Take a deep breath. And another one.

Binges are full of emotions before, during, and after. Food has a way of giving us a sense of calm and numbness, but anyone who has eaten emotionally knows that the intense emotions that lead up to a binge and then the ones that follow after—guilt, shame—can leave you feeling so much worse than before any food was eaten.

Emotional eating is a common coping mechanism that many people use to manage everything from stress, to not getting enough sleep, to depression. While your mind may be telling you there is something shameful about emotional eating, the truth is that it is a sign that you are doing your best to manage everything life throws at you. And sometimes life can be overwhelming or scary or just plain crappy.

So, you’ve binged on all your favourite foods in an attempt to escape your negative feelings. As you slowly come out of the binge mentality and regret begins to blossom, take a moment to pull out your journal and try one or a few of t...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

Have you had a busy day at work, and you sit with some chips next to your computer, only to find yourself scraping the bottom of the bag without realizing it? Or maybe it is late at night and you’re in front of the TV and scooping from an ice cream pint until there isn’t a bite left?

Often those of us who binge eat will do so in a rushed way. This could look like hopping from sweet to salty and back to sweet again, or maybe it’s a panicked shopping spree at the corner store before up ending the bag of goodies in bed where you intend to indulge. Ultimately, we’re hoping the binge will give us some relief from how we’re feeling or create a false sense of control when it seems like eve...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

Affirmations tend to divide people into two camps: either you love ‘em or hate ‘em! But take a read through and hear us out; affirmations can not only be effective in creating a positive outlook, they are also a convenient tool you can rely on whenever you need it (and you don’t have to have space for it in your purse!).

We’ve all heard how powerful one negative thought can be, but what if we switched just that one thought for a positive one?

An affirmation is essentially a sentence that you identify with that is positive in tone (so make sure you are using “I” or “my” when coming up with your affirmation). For example, “the right job for me will not pass me by” or “I deserve to be...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

When suffering from a low mental health day do you ever find yourself Googling how to improve your mood? Often, we come across the same line, something like “just work up a sweat and you’ll feel good in no time!” again and again. Sounds like advice from someone who doesn’t know what it feels like to be depressed or anxious, right? Chances are you’re already aware that movement makes you feel better, but you can’t force yourself to do it when you’re not in a great space mentally. And that is completely ok!

When we hear the term ‘working out’ we often think of intimidating gyms, uncomfortably tight clothing, following a difficult plan, and comparing ourselves to other people. It ca...

How many of you are using your cell phone as your alarm clock? Hey, we’re guilty of it too! But looking at your screen—even if it’s just to hit the snooze button—can set your mind racing. There are many benefits to the technology we have access to, but constant screen and sound notifications, from texts to email to social media alerts, can divide your attention (hello mindless eating while scrolling!), shatter your focus on a specific task, and even skyrocket your anxiety. 

 So, what is the solution?

Let’s face it: we’re not going to get away from using technology. But we can set boundaries around how and when we use it. The key is to start small! We’ve already suggested how putting away your phone—even just 30 minutes—before bed can be beneficial. The next thing you can try is to add to this time little by little to create more of a buffer between the last time you looked at your phone and when your head hits the pillow. You can even try enabling the ‘do not disturb’ feature on your...