As emotional eaters we often think about (and fear) weight gain being noticed by those around us. Even worse: we stress over if they will say anything about it! But emotional eating can also mean a loss of appetite too: stress, anxiety, and depression can feel so all-encompassing that our natural hunger signals are lost in the chaos.

Often, losing a pant size or two can lead to positive comments from family, friends, and even your doctor. But these comments can be just as problematic as ones on weight gain. As a society we uphold thin bodies as the ideal standard for beauty and health, but what is often missing from the discussion is the emotion or illness that can be behind the weight loss. We become torn between the positive comments and the negative feelings that have led to our body’s changes.

While we’ve got some tips for when someone says something about your weight, the added layer of social conditioning—of acceptance of thinness—can create a very different impact. You might f...

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...

We recently did a post about what emotional eating gives you. In this second part, we’ll take a look at what else you can do to give yourself the feelings you crave when reaching for your favourite foods.

But first, we want to remind you that there is no such thing as perfect. Of course, supporting your mental health is an important way to lessen the desire to eat emotionally, but we will also be the first to tell you that food will always provide comfort. Experiences will come up in your life that make you feel upset, and that is normal and ok! We wouldn’t know how happy we could be without knowing how sad or frustrated or angry we can also be. As humans we are built to experience the full range of emotions.

Of course, there are tools and strategies to help you feel more comfortable around food and strong emotions, but expecting perfection—that you’ll NEVER eat emotionally again—just isn’t true (that totally goes for us too!). Showing yourself some compassion when feelings bubble up...

“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...

Seeing old friends or getting together with extended family can be a cause for celebration—especially after two years of social distancing and lockdown measures. But these situations can also bring feelings of anxiety and failure, you may start thinking “What if they notice I’ve gained weight?”, or even worse “What if they say something about my weight gain?”

It often feels like one’s waistline is open for comment no matter if it has been a weight gain or loss. The problem is that we’re celebrated when we shrink and blamed when we put on weight. Here are a few tips to support your mental health when your faced with unwanted commentary on your body.

Come up with a game plan. Knowing body comments might come up is one thing but being mentally prepared to face them can give you a feeling of confidence. Try tucking affirmations in your wallet, go to the bathroom and text a friend who will support you, schedule a therapy session or alone time after the meeting with family to decompress. T...

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...

December is a delicious time of year! There are family recipes that get baked, holiday parties with seasonal cocktails, and who is going to argue with an advent calendar that lets you have a piece of chocolate every day!

If you read the above and immediately felt overwhelmed (or like you’ll need to restrict your eating this time of year), STOP. This time of year, can be triggering for a lot of people, not only are all sorts of foods more available, eating until bursting is encouraged by family members and in the media, and stress if running high—hello mall shopping and family drama! This time of year is a rollercoaster that can have your emotional eating get the best of you.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Here are a few ideas on how you can challenge the holiday expectation to overeat, overexercise, overreact. 

• Trying eating food that you actually enjoy and tastes good to you. After a couple of days of gingerbread, you may find yourself wanting a more balanced meal.

...

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...