The Nutritional Institute

Whenever I ask clients what they believe their barrier to healthy eating is, most would honestly confess that their mind, moods and/or ‘addiction’ to food gets in the way. Rarely is it because of a lack of knowledge or a lack of resources.

There is a pronounced gap between knowing what to eat and actually putting it into practice; this gap is generally filled with strong emotions, incessant cravings or default habits. In some cases, it’s a combination of them all and many individuals feel trapped in the ‘emotional eating’ cycle.

I’ve come to understand that we eat for many reasons and that physical hunger is rarely the primary drive behind our eating behaviors and food choices. We may very well eat the stereotypical three large meals a day and snack in-between, assuming that we’ve ‘got it right’, but if we stand back and glance at our food choices and default habits – were they driven by the body’s search for nutrients or perhaps something more than just that?

Generally, the food choices that are driven by strong emotions or stress aren’t kale or a goji berry smoothie. Instead, we tend to grab foods that will hopefully alleviate our mood, dampen the stress response and evoke a ‘rewarding’ feeling. What science has uncovered is that food can literally shift emotions, reduce stress and make us feel motivated, satisfied and pacified; albeit for a short while and thereafter the emotions flare up again. This is especially true for ‘comfort foods’ such as high-sugar foods / drinks, refined carbohydrates and high-fat foods.

Dr Susan Albiers, a psychologist that focuses on emotional eating behavior in her practice, stated the following: ‘Emotional eating results from a lack of particular skills that help a person cope with the intensity and duration of their feelings instead of stuffing those feelings down, numbing them out, turning them off or escaping them with comfort foods.’

This basically suggests that most people unknowingly use food to numb, suppress, improve or alter emotions, instead of facing emotions, aiming to understand emotions and then dealing with them appropriately. One of my favorite quotes state that ‘emotions are wonderful slaves, but terrible masters’. Emotional eating behavior is a strong example of this statement and therefore it is safe to assume that the more self-aware and emotionally intelligent a person is, the less their food choices will be driven by their emotional state. In other words – the better we are able to understand and regulate our emotions, the more we’ll be able to make healthy food choices and implement healthy eating behaviors.

There are many ways to move yourself out of the ‘emotional eating’ cycle and to move towards a healthy lifestyle and a healthy relationship with your body and with food. Some useful tools include:

Emotional regulation tools:

      - Journaling (very useful for many people – getting the emotions out and making sense of them)
      - Deep breathing exercises (calms down the central nervous system)
      - Exercise (no-brainer – improves mood and a great stress-reliever)
      - Meditation / prayer / motivating self-talk
      - Some people may find it useful to journey with a coach, NLP practitioner, psychologist or counsellor

Substituting unhealthy foods with healthier options, e.g.:

      - Replace sugar with coconut sugar or raw honey
      - Replace refined carbohydrates with brown rice, quinoa, whole grains, sweet potatoes, etc.
      - Replace unhealthy, sugar-laden desserts with healthy dessert options (have a look at Sarah Graham’s website for some                 delicious dessert recipes: https://sarahgraham.co.za/recipes/)

Plan and buy ahead:

      - We are bombarded with options – there are usually more unhealthy options for quick meals / snacks than healthy options
      - Plan for meals and snacks, then buy accordingly
      - ‘If you keep good food in your fridge, you will eat good food.’ (Errick McAdams)

Have grace and patience with yourself:

      - You will fail, you will fall and you will disappoint yourself along this journey – just don’t remain stuck there. Stand up and                   move strongly forward, one healthy choice at a time.

Healthy companions:

      - It may be very helpful to have friends and family who join you on a healthy eating journey. In this way, they can                             motivate you on the days when motivation seems to have eluded you.

I finish off with an excellent quote from Chris Karr: ‘We don’t need to make peace with food. We need to make peace with ourselves. Food is nourishment; not the enemy.’

Emotions don’t need to hold sway over your eating behavior and food choices, but you have to be intentional about it. Join me and Ian Craig on the ‘Shape up for summer’ programme, where Ian will help you to implement personalised healthy dietary and lifestyle changes, and I’ll focus more on coaching, emotional regulation and uncovering the barriers/hindrances that prevent you from living the healthy lifestyle that you desire. For more information on this programme: http://www.thenutritionalinstitute.com/events/257-shape-up-for-summer-programme-let-us-help-you-to-spring-clean-your-body-and-mind

To learn more about Jeanne van Zyl, view her website.

Jeanne shares her expertise with us in Step 11 of the 12 Step to Wholesome Nutrition course.