Comfort Eating – What It Is And

Isn’t

One thing you often become aware of in

the field of hypnotherapy is that there is a

strong link between the emotions and the

way we eat.

In fact, one of the areas that hypnosis is

often used for is in the area of weight loss.

Often, comfort eating is cited as being an issue

lying behind somebody’s weight problem.

The link between feeling good and the food

we eat is undeniable. It’s just part of

being human.

However, it’s important to be aware as to

exactly what comfort eating is and what it

isn’t.

If comfort eating is a problem for you,

then being aware of what’s going on will

help you have power over it and feel more

in control.

Knowing what comfort eating isn’t

can also be helpful.

Factor one: good times and abundance

Having an abundance of food was a reason

to celebrate and be happy.

On the other hand, a big life event such as a

birth, a marriage or even a death, was

celebrated or commemorated by lavish

amounts of food.

Now, it’s not comfort eating to enjoy eating

a bit of birthday cake at your friend’s party,

even though eating the cake will be

associated with feeling happy and will be

part of the general fun of the celebration.

The problem here comes when you try to

capture the feeling associated with a party

by eating party food even when you’re not

celebrating anything – that

is comfort eating.

Factor two: blood sugar

There is also a physical side to the link

between food and emotions.

When we are low on blood sugar and hungry,

we tend to feel pretty terrible.

It varies from person to person, but when

we haven’t eaten for a while, we get grumpy,

snappy, more prone to worry, a bit more

emotional and prone to tearfulness and so

forth.

Any mother of small children – in fact, any

parent at all – can tell you that the time of

day that’s the worst is the hour just before

the evening meal.

All that irritability is simply a sign that your

body needs some fuel, while some of the

worry that kicks in may be, deep down, part

of a fear that there will not be enough to

eat.

This emotional factor should drive us to

grab something to eat – it’s like the fuel light

coming on in the car to show that we’re

low on fuel.

Where comfort eating comes in is when we

use food as a way to help us feel better

when we feel tired, irritable, stressed or

upset for some other reason, i.e. when

hunger isn’t the cause of our bad

temper and anxiety.

The classic example here is the stereotype

of a woman who has been dumped by her

lover and who turns to ice cream and

chocolate as a consolation – eating her

heart out. Men do it too, of course!

If you think you like comfort eating, well,

stop it now with the help of a

Hypnotherapist Gold Coast.

More information at

http://positivetranceformations.com.au