Emotional eating is a form of dissociation. If you aren’t familiar with the term dissociation, it is the ability for the brain to separate from pain. When injured in an accident, your brain can block physical pain in order to survive. Our brain does the same thing with emotional pain. Life exposes us to a […]
In his amazing book Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, Pete Walker discusses how trauma impacts a person’s ability to cope even years after the traumatic events in childhood. Even if you didn’t have your emotional or physical needs met in childhood, I strongly recommend reading this book. He has an excellent chapter on emotional […]
Emotional eating seems is so common. There are very few people who never struggle with it on some level. If you eat when you aren’t physically hungry, it is emotional eating. You might think it is just mindless or you are only eating because it looks/tastes good, but I doubt that is the case. In […]
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 […]
Emotional eating is an issue most people face at one time or another. So many people don’t even recognize it, but if you aren’t physically hungry and you are reaching for food, it is emotional eating. If it isn’t physical, it is emotional. Let’s face it, food feels good. It is entertaining. It is soothing. […]
When discussing emotional eating triggers, clients often say they are bored. I routinely tell people that I don’t believe boredom is a real emotion. We have so many things to capture our attention, so food doesn’t need to be among them. When I ask clients about triggers for emotional eating, some people are so out […]
You got caught up in emotional eating again. You told yourself that you wouldn’t keep doing this, but it feels like you can’t stop yourself. Sometimes, we tend to be on autopilot when it comes to food. We have gotten so accustomed to engaging in emotional eating that we don’t even realize we are emotional. […]
I specialize in emotional eating in my practice. I am passionate about helping people heal their relationship with food. Emotional eating is a seemingly simple, but quite complex issue and has a lot of consequences. My clients tend to struggle with their weight as a result of overeating and then engage in self-defeating talk to […]
Emotional eating is a complex issue that often has deep roots. By using EMDR Therapy, we can get to the core of the relationship with food and quickly work through past issues. In this video, I explain more about how EMDR Therapy works and how I use it to address emotional eating.
You are trying to lose weight and you keep coming up against barrier after barrier. So often, a client will come to see me wanting to lose weight and want to jump into looking at what to do to lose weight instead of examining why they struggle with weight gain in the first place. They […]
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. Read more