Binge Eating Help for the Holidays
Making Peace With Food During the Holidays
Cheesecake and poundcake and fruitcake, oh my! It can be challenging to be surrounded by so much food during the Holidays. You might tell yourself you just won’t have any of those sweet treats you really like… only to find yourself obsessing about eating them, and then ultimately binge eating and possibly purging. What would it be like to make peace with food this year during the Holidays? Binge eating help is here! Try these Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ strategies at the next Holiday Buffet or Family Gathering you attend:
1. Check in with your hunger. Your body’s unique hunger signals are a direct link to your intuitive wisdom. When you pause to align with your hunger, you can work with your body to overcome anorexic avoidance or binge behaviors. How hungry are you right now? What subtle signs indicate you are feeling hungry? What specific food would best satisfy your hunger? Is that specific food available at the buffet or party you’re attending? If not, what can you substitute to adequately address your body’s need for specific nutrients? Do you have a snack with you which you could enjoy instead?
2. Check in with your desire. The sight and smell of food can trigger a desire to eat. These desires for food can feel confusing and sometimes overwhelming. When you pause to notice your various desires for food, you can clarify your true desires and eat intuitively rather than impulsively. What specific foods do you have a desire to eat right now? Are there some which have more appeal than others? If you could only choose one specific food, which would you select? How much of that food do you need to satisfy your desire? Would you rather have a few bites of several different foods?
3. Check in with your emotion. Eating disorder behaviors can be a way to avoid feeling intense emotions, so it’s not so much what you’re eating as what’s eating you. When you pause to notice what you are feeling and why you are feeling this way, you can begin to address your true needs (which may or may not be for food). What are you feeling right now? Can you identify a primary emotion — glad, sad, mad? Can you describe what you are feeling in more detail, noting its intensity and where you feel it in your body? What message does this emotion have for you — and does it involve eating?
Recovery is about reconnecting with your Intuitive Wisdom regarding what, how and why you eat — you can make peace with food!
Article may be reprinted with the author bio below.
©2014 by Dr. Dorie McCubbrey. Dr. Dorie is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Licensed Addiction Counselor who is passionate about training professionals to effectively guide clients in recovery from eating disorders, through her Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ Certified program. She also meets with clients at her treatment center, Positive Pathways PLLC, located in Evergreen Colorado. Learn more at: https://www.drdorie.com
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Want more that this “taste” of EDIT™? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions. She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED
