Do you turn to food as a coping mechanism?
When life is going on around you, does eating feel like a relief? Does it help to release tension and calm you down? Does eating give you a chance to have a break, or provide you with moments of escapism? Do you think of food as one thing you CAN have when other areas of your life seem out of control? Or do you feel that all areas of your life are working well, but it's just food that you can't seem to get under control? Is your eating then immediately followed by feelings of guilt and shame?
This webinar is for anyone who wants to address their binge eating. It provides in-depth information and advice about some of the key underlying causes, common binge eating triggers and how to start building a self-help 'tool box' for managing your binge eating.
Many people feel a lot of guilt and shame around their eating, but in many cases it’s not simply about giving in to the diet or being greedy. Once you become aware that binge eating or even just mindless eating/grazing is often a symptom of something- a reaction to a stressful situation, ongoing relationship, work, physical or mental health issues, or some deep-seated urge to comfort yourself with food, you can start being kinder to yourself and find effective strategies to address your true needs, rather than using food as a sticking plaster.
Food and eating can symbolise different things to different people. For example, it can be a way to relax or have a break, it can be a way of connecting socially, it can have a calming, distracting or numbing effect when things feel difficult or overwhelming, it can be a way to reward oneself, a way to put things off (procrastinate), it can be something to do when feeling bored, lonely or unfulfilled, and it can even be a means of rebelling, ‘rule breaking’ or self-punishment.
The webinar will help you to:-
~ Identify factors that have influenced your relationship with food over time, including mindset (attitudes, beliefs, thought patterns, values), history of dieting, mental health and childhood / life experiences
~ Explore key binge-eating triggers, and the many different types of eating, and identify which ones you can relate to most
~ Understand the 'two brains' (thinking brain vs. emotional brain)- how your emotional brain might hijack you in certain situations and how to activate your thinking brain to help you avoid knee-jerk reactions to sudden food cravings
~ Pinpoint how and why you might use food as a coping mechanism, and how to start addressing your TRUE needs
~ Start working with your feelings and emotions, and see them as a sign that something needs to be addressed (rather than ignoring them or numbing them with food); problem-solving is a key part of tackling emotional eating, whereas eating only keeps us functioning on a surface level, preventing us from addressing our needs
~ Acknowledge that to have a better relationship with food, you need to have a better relationship with yourSELF- how to start being more aware of your inner critic, and any negative/unhelpful thinking you do such as catastrophising, making assumptions about what other people are thinking of you, all-or-nothing thinking, calling yourself names, automatically taking the blame or always apologising for things, having overly high expectations of yourself, or ignoring the positive aspects of yourself- once you're more aware or your negative thinking, or your inner critic, you can start making positive mindset changes to support your mental health and develop a better relationship with food
~ Understand how to make new habits stick- the key element required (and it's not willpower!)
~ Realise that it's important to consider the 'whole picture' when it comes to understanding your relationship with food- eating habits, body image, self-worth, lifestyle, personality, mental health and past experiences are just some of the topics that you need to explore.
SPECIAL OFFER: Half price! Normally £30. The webinar includes a detailed handout (Powerpoint slides) and a comprehensive questions and exercises handout emailed to you after the webinar, enabling you to go back through the material and try out exercises in your own time.
PLEASE NOTE: If you're unable to join the event live, or prefer to listen to the recording in your own time, by purchasing a ticket the recording will be sent to you after the event. As with any webinar run via Zoom, if you attend, please be aware that your full name may be visible from your Zoom screen to anyone else attending live or to anyone watching the recording after the event, depending on your own Zoom set-up (data privacy caution). You will have the option of keeping your video on or off.
Comments from previous webinar attendees and clients who have benefitted from my teaching and support:-
“I didn’t realise just how much eating and mental health are connected.”
"I was fed up…really very fed up…of eating all the time- and wondering what was wrong with me. Emma helped me to see that I was eating to fulfil deep emotional needs that went way back. Now, I work on fulfilling my emotional needs another way and find things to do that I truly enjoy. It’s a pleasure to enjoy food as just food."
“I found this course really good at focusing my mind on what I’m eating. I particularly found the exercise looking at my childhood helpful, and how that has affected my adult eating habits.”
“Emma helped me to recognise how overeating had become a way of numbing my emotions.”
