7 things you can do to beat emotional eating

If you want a better relationship with food and to whip that waistline into shape, here are 7 things you can do to beat emotional eating from experts Liz Hogon and Sally Baker.

We have to admit that when a copy of 7 Simple Steps to Stop Emotional Eating landed on our desk, our minds were swimming with questions. For starters, what constitutes ’emotional eating’ anyway? And could the book in front of us really help to tackle eating habits that were ingrained in us? The introduction answers all of these questions. And with professional and validated advice too, as both the authors, Sally Baker and Liz Hogon are therapeutic practitioners with qualifications in hypnotherapy, emotional freedom technique and percussive suggestion technique.

Understand emotional eating

The book covers every single potential aspect that might affect your eating habits, from sugar cravings and your metabolism to the history of your weight and what events may have determined this. The book is so well structured and easy to follow, that you’ll find yourself intrigued and reading on. That’s not to say that getting through the stages are easy though. Why? Because it’s not as straight-forward as telling yourself to lay off the treats. At the core of Baker and Hogon’s work ‘is the discovery and releasing of the underlying reasons for emotional eating and emotional obesity [which they] believe are the key to successful long-term weight loss’. This means that although you may be focusing on the emotional eating aspect, it’s likely that you’ll alleviate yourself of other concerns and better yourself in the long run. For example, you’ll feel much more confident with your body image and learn to put yourself first.

The truth is in there

The seven steps require you to ask yourself a lot of questions and to be truthful in your answers. There are some parts of the step where this can be achieved through deep reflection but the majority require ‘talking therapy’ – and this is where you’ll need to be patient and positive. One of the methods is emotional freedom technique (EFT), a process that consists of tapping your face while speaking out loud. It may sound crazy, but the technique has been successfully adapted over the years from traditional Chinese acupuncture. In fact, EFT is the most influential and widely known energy psychology method in the world, and can be used to treat anything from fears and anxieties to migraines and phobias.

The other main technique used is percussive suggestion technique (PSTEC). This is an audio that blends a specific mix of methods with precision timing so that your thoughts/memories (and how you would have normally responded to them) are neutralised. The audio click tracks can be used for almost anything – some have even managed to clear trauma with it! So once you familiarise yourself a little with the methods (e.g. EFT tapping points and getting in the right mindset for PSTEC audio), you can utilise them to overcome any of the issues that are discussed in the seven steps.

Setting a timeframe

There’s a lot to work through so it’s worth noting the recommended time that you should allocate to the session. Baker and Hogon explain why six or seven weeks is enough time: ‘When we work with clients we usually see them weekly for around six or seven weeks, so we feel, as a guide, it would be appropriate if you allowed yourself at least that amount of time to work through the seven steps in this book. Imagine how, by taking no more than an hour or so one evening a week, you can do work that is powerful enough to make a real and lasting difference to your life. That has to be worth fitting into your schedule, however busy you are.’

So instead of reaching for another slice of cake, why not sit somewhere quiet and work on making treats undesirable altogether? Picking up this book might just help you reach your goal weight!

The 7 steps

Step 1: Acknowledging the present

Tune into your subconscious and what you’ve been saying to yourself. What are your excuses? That you’re overweight because you’re just lazy? Or that you have a slow metabolism? You need to clear this resistance to change by doing the following: exploring your past with a weight timeline, resetting your personal hunger diet so that you’re satisfied and not full, and learning to deal with the negative voices in your head that tell you that you won’t succeed.

Step 2: Comfort and stress eating

This stage helps you to respond to food in a healthier way. Habits like eating at any given opportunity or finishing your portion even though you’ve had enough to eat already will be curbed so that you’re eating simply for nutrition, sustenance and enjoyment.

Step 3: Body image

List what you like and dislike about yourself, and use EFT to resolve any feelings of self-hatred. It’s important to bring your body back into balance in order to release the excess weight. The goal is as much about feeling comfortable and safe in your body as it is about your target weight.

Step 4: Setting and achieving your goals

This stage is about putting all that you’ve come to learn about yourself into action. How do you feel about those who are regularly fit and eat well? Use EFT to increase your motivation and put to bed all the negative thoughts that you hold towards improving your health and fitness. Reasonings like, ‘I don’t have enough time, I have to clean the house’ will have to be compromised; you will just have to come to terms with the house not being immaculate to benefit yourself.

Step 5: Break through

Take time to sit and contemplate whether there might be anything else that you feel needs to be explored and resolved. Is there something that’s stopping you from being at peace with yourself? The run-the-movie technique can help pinpoint any hidden uncomfortable feelings – you take an event, create a two-minute movie script and run it through your mind, thinking about the details and how it made you feel. Use EFT if you’re still finding trouble dealing with it.

Step 6: Dig deep

“Try and work below the surface of your everyday thoughts. Write down whatever comes into your mind without necessarily getting too caught up with reading it back to yourself in the first instance”, says the authors. Any remaining thoughts you jot down should not be judged as you need to acknowledge them to release any lingering resistance.

Step 7: New day new dawn

For the last stage, Baker and Hogon cite intuition and gratitude as the most important ingredients for moving forward after this treatment. Learning to listen to your thoughts and trust them will make you act accordingly, while gratitude ‘reinforces our desire to feel differently about ourselves and how we live our lives’. You are recommended to write down 25 things that you are grateful for before you go to bed at night, and when you wake up the next morning.

Therapists Sally Baker and Liz Hogon are the authors of 7 Simple Steps to Stop Emotional Eating (Hammersmith Books, £14.99). Follow Sally @EatingStop and look up her Facebook Page