It’s not about the food. It’s never about the food!

1. October 2008 by Patricia.

It’s not about the food. It’s never about the food!

Do you find yourself reaching for food, especially high fat, sugary foods, when you are not hungry? Do you sometimes unconsciously pop food into your mouth and don’t realize you are doing it at the time? There is a way out.

The first step is not to judge or critique what you are doing. Be gentle on yourself and evaluate what you are doing from a place of curiosity. Hmmm! that’s interesting!

The goal is to lengthen the time between the impulse to put food into your mouth and actually doing it. Just begin on the path to be conscious about it.

It goes like this:

1. You reach for a cookie but you know you are not hungry.
2. Hold the cookie in your hand and ask yourself – “What am I feeling?
3. Know that you can have the cookie but see if you can answer the feeling question first. This can be hard to do but each time you ask the feeling question when you’re not hungry you lengthen the time between the impulse to eat and the act of eating.
4. When you get the answer to the feeling question (I’m sad, bored, happy, stressed, frustrated, angry, lonely, anxious, etc.) ask yourself if it’s not the cookie I need    “What do I truly need?”
5. Once you have the answer then you can choose whether to eat the cookie or not.
6. And that is the goal… the Freedom to choose what you eat!

Paying attention to your hunger level, what you are feeling and what you truly need will put you back in touch with yourself and you will make the healthy choice.

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