Struggling to lose weight is rarely due to a lack of information. Nearly every client I meet with knows what to do to lose weight. By the time a client is on my couch, they have tried every diet. They have lost the same 10 or 20 or 50 pounds over and over again only […]
Binge eating is a complex animal. It feels like a friend until it becomes the enemy. When we are young with limited coping skills and even less power, food becomes a powerful escape. We escape the pain and emptiness of not having our needs met. As we grow up, the pathways formed in our brain […]
Most people struggle with emotional eating. More often than not, they probably have no idea they are eating for emotional reasons. Emotional eating becomes so habitual, we eventually turn off emotional cues before we even register them. Often, I will ask a new client what prompts their emotional eating episodes and they will say it […]
How many times have you gone on a diet only to gain back what you lost and then some? How many times have you vowed to do it differently next time only to repeat the diet and binge pattern again and again? It seems so simple, but it is really a setup. What you haven’t […]
How Do I Improve My Body Image? Sadly, a negative body image is a huge issue for most women. I don’t know a single woman who feels good about her body all the time. There is so much pressure in the media to look a certain way. There are an endless number of fad diets […]
I struggled with compulsive eating for many, many years. I felt empty inside and ate to fill the void. Food feels like a hug from the inside out. When we eat to that stuffed point, it somehow feels like it grounds us. We temporarily feel a calm in the chaos. However, it is only temporary. […]
When you aren’t really hungry, eating too fast or eating to soothe emotions, do you actually taste your food? I’m guessing the answer is no. When we do not allow ourselves to be fully present, we miss the experience of the food and it is much harder to feel satisfied. The sensation of fullness brings […]
As a culture we use shame to try to change our behavior. When has that ever worked for you? In my experience, shame just drives me further into emotional eating. I am listening to Brenè Brown’s audio recording The Power of Vulnerability for the third time. If you haven’t ever read one of her books […]
The basis of emotional eating is grounded in trying to resist emotions. We are so afraid of feeling our emotions, many of us try anything to avoid them. When Carl Jung stated, “That which we resist, persists”, he was referring to parts of ourselves that we try to deny. I would argue that this is […]
Emotional eating is a complex issue. When you have told someone about your struggle with weight and eating, how often has the response been, “well, just don’t eat so much”? Gee. I guess you hadn’t considered that option, right?! If only it were that easy! I have worked with emotional eating for a long time […]
Michelle Lewis has been working in the mental health field since 2001. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Weber State University and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah. She is passionate about helping others achieve their goals.
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