“The most challenging part in making a change isn’t about getting your body in shape: It’s about getting your mind in shape”
Irena Geller
Here is my story of Finding Food Freedom….
Before entering the health and wellness industry, I spent almost two decades in the fashion world. But the stress of managing a thriving business and caring for a young family was too much, I literally had ‘too much on my plate’.
My daily relentless lifestyle and heightened sense of anxiety would leave me physically and emotionally drained. My solution was to eat, using food to fill the empty space in my heart and my life.
My constant comfort eating resulted in a huge weight gain and depression. Not taking care of myself resulted in adrenal burnout that claimed six months of my life and affected my mental health.
I believe that we are all hungering for something…and it’s usually not food itself.
After many struggles with emotional eating and basically having ‘too much on my plate’, most of my life, I decided enough was enough. After trying every method, every therapy, and reading every book on the subject, nothing worked until I discovered the life-altering truth:
The key to sustainable change is through the mind!
I finally made peace with food following a massive mind transformation. By shedding my mental weight, I also lost 50kgs over two years (I was 137kgs to begin with).
I believe that the secret is discovering what you are really hungry for. It’s about dealing with the core issues cutting away at your quality of life and finding new and more positive outlets to deal with your emotions.
Here are 3 valuable lessons I learned from ending my food fight.
Lesson #1-Change your thinking
Taming your monkey mind and inner critic is the REAL key to your long-term success. Learning how to eliminate the faulty thoughts and beliefs patterns that cause you to overeat, feel overwhelmed and overloaded is an important foundational skill you need to learn to maintain healthy eating for life.
- Acknowledge and accept that your journey is going to be challenging and uncomfortable at times.
- Shift your focus to healthy lifestyle habits and nourishing your body.
- Commit to achieving your goal and staying on course no matter how long it takes and what obstacles you may encounter.
Lesson 2: Identify Your hunger
Do you find yourself eating when you’re not really hungry?
To understand your “hunger” cues it’s helpful to record the times and places when it happens. Writing down what and why you are eating forces you to face the real reasons behind your hunger. As you gather data you will notice that certain patterns emerge.
When you feel hungry, ask yourself the following questions:
- How do I feel emotionally? (Hunger should not be connected to emotions)
- How long is it since I last ate? (Should be 3 – 4 hours on most days)
- What do I feel like eating? (Is it sensible or is it comfort food?)
Lesson 3: Manage your emotions
When you learn to manage your emotions– you don’t need to feed them!
It takes time and practice to change your responses to stress, so going one step at a time is important. Spend some time each day visualising yourself going about your day in a balanced and emotionally poised manner.
Try to find positive outlets instead like:
- Slow down your breathing (get out of your head and into your heart)
- Self-reflection (sit with your feelings, you don’t need to change them)
- Write down how your feel (get it out of your head and on paper)
Ultimately finding out the reason why you are filling up on your feelings and applying some ways to get out of that cycle will help you start eating with a sense of freedom, self-confidence and empowerment.
The Carousel would like to thank Irena Geller for sharing her story.
This story was originally published on The Carousel.
