Do you over think about the food you are going to eat, or do you eat as not to think ? It’s a good question, don’t you think, many will answer without a thought, where as others will think it over a few times !

This can be a big problem for some, it is an illness, that can take hold of you, just like any other…………..many of us turn to food to compensate something else, it is like an emotional trigger, which can be very useful on a short-term basis, but can be a tremendous weight on our guilt and feeling of failure, are emotions can run wild. A problem associated with food and our personal conduct, such as anorexia or bulimia cannot be cured with a strong will or diet. 

When we attack food with a sense of guilt, over weight,emotions over food, being overweight can be a love/hate relationship which are life friends with people who suffer from a food disorder, this is in fact a very recent type of disorder, that is being acknowledged by the medical profession. Previously this disorder did not have a name and was just mixed in with anorexia and bulimia. Today it is given the attention it deserves and help and treatment is available for those in need. 

So, why do people do this, is it hunger, pleasure or something else ? People eat to cover up emotions that they cannot express, they even in some cases do it, hidden from the world, alone and can be in large amounts, hundreds of calories within seconds. Nobody can deny that eating can be a pleasurable moment and you can become addicted to this moment. It is how you live this problem, that makes the difference, if you eat a piece of chocolate after your meal and you don’t feel guilty, there is nothing wrong, it is not a problem, the problem is when you eat between meal times which make you feel bad, it becomes an obsession and a feeling of shame and guilty. People who have this problem do not eat because they are hungry or the love for a special food, food is the answer to an emotional state within, it is important that the person who does this starts to eat because you want to eat, not because they are sad or nervous or have had a bad day, a line has to be drawn regarding using food as a prize, if this is the only prize they  receive,  they have a problem, it needs to be replaced with something more appropriate.

We eat how we live, when we go through a bad patch in our daily life, the food that we eat can also go through a bad patch. People who tend to attack food, need to reconstruct their lives as they will find that they live within a certain amount of caos. The job of a professional in this area we look to find a new form of equilibrium and this takes time and needs discipline to change the way of life without falling into the trap of being on a permanent diet. In these cases a diet can cause more problems as people who suffer from this type of disorder can be attached to diets !! They will have tried everything and every type of diet that is out there. 

Most of the people who suffer with this, have various things in common they will all tend to seek approbation in everything they do, and from everyone around them, which is an attempt to cover up the low esteem they feel for themselves. They have difficulty in saying NO, they do not know how to lose weight or diet correctly and take on many other tasks, they tend to help caring for others and forget about their own necessities. When in therapy they are taught to confront these in abilities , therapy will also help for them to see how life can be enjoyed and that they are not machines for doing other things. They should learn to delegate within there work and home. They need to respect themselves and to make sure that those around them also feel that respect, all these things can change the life of a person who suffers from this type of disorder. 

Brooke Universal Life Coach

theutopiauniverse@gmail.com