In a recent session, my Therapist and I drilled down into my obsession with eating food. I have always considered myself an emotional eater. What that means is that when things go well, I eat to celebrate. Opposingly, when I have a tragedy, I eat to feel better. See, I lose control of food because those lines get blurry. It is my weakness and my vice. More than any other. He got up and wrote this quote from me on the dry-erase board which is the title of this blog post and the image below.
The quote refers to sitting over a bowl of food and not being satisfied. Not while you are eating and not afterward. Thinking about your next meal while sitting to eat this one. Or thinking of dessert while staring at the entrée in front of you.
When looking at ‘Even While Eating You Are Still Reaching For More’ it is not about hunger and being satisfied. It is about confusing your emotions for your hunger. This statement is the want and desire that lives inside all of us. It is emotions that can get wrapped up with hunger. We confuse them with the same thing. It is the desire to fill an emotional void with something like food. (Also see, Which Nuts Release Happy Chemicals?)
When I thought about it more, the same organs that we rely on for controlling our hunger are right next to the organs that we rely on to control our feelings. The liver and pancreas and intestines control our desire for food. They tell our brains that we need more food and that we need more energy to survive. But it is the heart and the lungs that regulate our emotions. Picture how many times your heart skips a beat when you see something that excites us. Or how a deep breath is encouraged before making any big decisions.
What I can see is a path forward. I can take the time to separate the emotions of desire that come from the top of my torso and the hunger that comes from the lower half of my torso. This is my own path to move against the emotional eating that has been consistent throughout my entire life. Now with a focus on natural foods in my life and my career, I will be able to tell the difference and make healthier choices
