It seems impossible to ignore the presence of GLP-1 medications, you might have heard them being called Ozempic or Wegovy. Diet culture seems to have evolved from a focus on willpower to injections that can give you the “body of your dreams.”

It can be especially difficult to see celebrities who were previously promoting body positivity and self-love admit to taking weight loss injections. It can feel like a betrayal. And some, like influencers on social media, aren’t being transparent about their use of the drug but continue to say only diet and exercise are responsible for their results.

Plus, all these headlines, photos, and videos can make you hyper-aware of your own body as we’re encouraged to compare ourselves to others. You might find your emotional eating—reminder, that can include restricting too—ramps up the more you’re faced with this kind of content. It can be a constant reminder that weight loss is celebrated and only one body type is “acceptable.”

Here are some loving ...

If you’re an emotional eater, you might have spent a lot of your life trying to stick to a diet or workout routine created by someone else only to keep feeling like you fail. This can grind down your sense of self-trust: you keep trying to live by the rules of others, not trusting your inner voice, and you keep feeling like you’re breaking promises to yourself by not following through.

Talk about being stuck in a loop!

It is time to start rebuilding your self-trust, an inner knowing that you are capable and have preferences. But how can you do that if you’ve been ignoring your inner voice for so long? Try thinking about how you support the people in your life who you love and then apply it to yourself. You might find that it feels easier to trust and show up for others than it is to show yourself the same level of support and compassion.

Here are a few specifics to think about:

Keep a promise to yourself. Start off with little things like setting the intention to brush your teeth b...

Self-sabotage is a sneaky habit that is getting in the way of, well, yourself! You might have recognized your patterns, even be aware it doesn’t make you feel good, but feel helpless to stop the action. Self-sabotage keeps you feeling stuck because there is familiarity in the outcome. Yes, it might leave you feeling shame or overfull but it feels safe.

Self-sabotage behaviour can look like:

• Perfectionism. Needing everything to be perfectly aligned and ready before taking action. But the truth is “perfect” doesn’t exist, meaning you’ll never end up taking that step forward.
• Procrastination and avoidance. It is easy to pick up our phones and scroll or focus on what foods we want to binge on as a way to numb out rather than face something.
• Constant self-doubt and criticism. This can be feeling like you never measure up or that you can’t possibly meet your goals, so why even try.

These patterns of self-sabotage show up not just around a fear of failure, it can also come up as a fe...

There is no denying that springtime is a season of renewed positive feelings, like hope and joy. More daylight hours, warmer sunshine, and the ability to crack the windows refreshes us. There is something about shedding puffy winter coats and clunky boots that also allows us to feel lighter—in all the senses of the word!

If you are someone who feels as if they are waking up at this time of year and aren’t sure where to put your rising energy and good mood, below we’ve got some great questions for you to reflect on!

Choose one—or play around with all of them—and get inspired to look inwards. Getting clarity can help you feel more in-tune with what fills your cup and is a great way to not only recognize your needs, but meet them. This practice makes you feel more fulfilled, meaning you’re less likely to reach for food to soothe yourself.

1. If your mood is feeling more positive this season, what is it that is creating this mental shift? How can you do or get more of it? What else in yo
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Checklists can be a helpful tool: they can organize your day and make you feel motivated. But when it feels like you’ve got a never ending to do list, you can feel defeated and constantly drained.

You might even find yourself unable to relax or feel like you haven’t ‘earned’ rest because of all the lingering things you need to get done. With this mentality it is easy to fall into emotional eating patterns to avoid your to do list.

Food becomes the only ‘acceptable’ way to take a break, so you go grab an afternoon pastry to get away from your desk or find yourself in the pantry looking for a snack to focus on something other than your tasks. This pattern of eating also packs a one-two punch of helping you disassociate from your to do list and all the feelings around it: stress, overwhelm, anxiety, fear. 

It is unavoidable that life will get busy, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in a constant state of stress eating. Here are four key strategies to bring you some peace of mind, ...

Emotional eating bubbles up when you don’t want to feel or experience something. Food is always available and seems like an easier route than facing things head on. But the truth is, your feelings just want to be heard and comforted by you. That is the key to breaking out of the emotional eating cycle, not more will power.

This sense of confrontation can feel very scary when you’ve spent years avoiding your feelings, so we’re sharing 3 great ways to get your emotions out in a way that will help you recognize them and move through them—instead of being stuck in the trigger-eat-regret cycle:

Use your voice. One of the best ways to help diffuse the intensity of your emotions is to talk to yourself out loud. This might feel silly at first, but it can be a great way to identify what exactly you are feeling. Find a space alone (the bathroom is a great one!) and start to find your words, for example: “I am feeling really attacked right now”, “I’m so worried I disappointed them and they are ...

Chances are, if you’re an emotional eater you put your own needs on the back burner. That might be because you aim to take care of others or you feel you have to show up perfectly every time. But stuffing down what you need to feel your best is a recipe for those unmet feelings to come up with your relationship with food.

We often hear from clients here at the Centre for Emotional Eating that they don’t know how to identify their needs, less alone meet them. And that is ok! It takes time to get to know yourself when you’ve been using food to hide behind. Plus, what lights you up can change over time, so don’t feel bad if something that used to work for you doesn’t anymore—we are constantly growing and learning!

Here are some journal prompts to get you thinking about what your needs are and how to meet them. Start by finding some time to sit with yourself. If this seems impossible to you, feel free to journal in chunks of time: answer a question quickly then think about it until you c...

Today we’re answering the most Googled questions about emotional eating. The Centre for Emotional Eating has more than a decade of experience helping clients get to the root cause of their emotional eating. The factual and helpful answers below are a great place for you to begin your own journey!

1.  What is the definition of an emotional eater?

Emotional eating is when a person uses food to cope with emotions. Think of it this way: food becomes a reliable shield you can put between you and stress, anxiety, loneliness, etc. It can numb you out or distract you from what is really going on in your mind, heart, and body. 

You might feel like your eating is out of control because of the cravings you have for specific foods, but it is really the feelings behind your behaviour that is driving you to eat. This means that emotional eating is a symptom/response to emotions, which leads up to the next question…

2.  How to stop emotional eating?

Now that you know emotional eating isn...

Winter can be a challenging time for many people. Less sunlight, colder temperatures, and unpredictable weather can make it difficult to keep your mood up. One of the ways you may be looking for comfort is through food, and that is normal! People often think that emotional eating is automatically bad or negative, but the truth is it is a coping mechanism just like scrolling on your phone or journaling. With awareness you can begin to understand why you reach for certain foods when you feel a certain way.

And it is usual for your cravings to change with the seasons! Cooler temperatures can have us reaching for mashed potatoes and creamy soups. The warmth, texture, and carbs feel like a hug when the Winter feels cold and isolating. Many would agree that a salad or smoothie that was so refreshing in July just isn’t as tempting in January.

Learning to go with the flow of your food preferences is a great way to also help manage your emotional eating. This process has you gently check in w...

The snow isn’t the only thing swirling as we face the holiday season: emotions can feel all over the place as we’re faced with more things on our to do list that usual. Plus, there are so many opportunities where we are faced with food: dinners, potlucks, parties! If you’re an emotional eater you might dread this time of year.

But you don’t have to feel helpless. Below are three key things you can implement right now to start feeling calmer around food.

This time of year might bring with it specific family recipes you look forward to or limited-time store-bought items you crave. But this mindset can have you believing that these foods are scarce and you have to eat them every chance you get to make sure you take advantage of them being available.

• Try this: Start by giving yourself permission to eat the things you really enjoy. Practicing this means you’ll be much more satisfied by what you put in your mouth. And an interesting mental shift can happen when you know you can eat what
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