Five Steps to Managing Emotional Eating

Coping with emotions effectively is a necessary ingredient for functioning successfully in life, and managing food without struggling.

The Extraordinary Self Program directly addresses emotional issues underlying inappropriate eating, so it becomes easy for people to stick to any reasonable diet plan. According to preliminary research at PeakSkills Learning Systems, people lost an average of 30 pounds and kept if off for a year after correcting certain emotional mistakes and developing “unshakable self worth”.

The following steps are carefully implemented during the training.

1) Take Inventory. Write down what personal triggers cause inappropriate eating, and label them STOP patterns

2) Replacement Behaviors. Plan out START patterns, which are more adaptive skills to substitute for harmful behaviors when triggers hit. It’s not enough to want to stop doing something, it is important to know what to start doing instead. Without a plan for new patterns, temporary bouts of “willpower “ will cave into old habits.

3) Rule Your Emotions. Learn how to step out of any self-defeating or painful situation and detach from emotions. This enables rational choice, as opposed to overindulgence.

4) Affirm Unshakeable Self Worth. Strengthening self esteem enables one to see failure, rejection and criticism as learning experiences and opportunities for growth, instead of feeling bad and eating over it.

5) Transform the inner “Judge”. Begin viewing your inner critic as a guide and mentor, offering feedback to help you continue moving forward; there is no place for beating yourself up any longer. Make sure the judge inside your head speaks to you with respect!

Participants experience themselves moving through each day in a stress-free manner, appreciating and acknowledging themselves for each step forward. They detach from any prior eating triggers, easily deal with failure, rejection and criticism and receive supportive feedback from their inner Judge rather than punishment. As the emotional reasons for eating dissolve, the participants eating behaviors become healthier. For almost all, weight loss is inevitable.

The Extraordinary Self Development Team modeled the mental/emotional/behavioral patterns of people who have successfully lost weight and added exercise to their lives, and have maintained those changes over many years. These patterns were turned into a step-by-step program, enabling people to master the same abilities. Learning takes place in a highly interactive environment, allowing time for integration, feedback and application.

Specifically, the Extraordinary Self Program measurably improves ability to:

...Heal inner conflicts and early wounds
...Notice environmental & internal triggers for compulsive eating behaviors
...Deal with those triggers in an objective, healthy fashion
...Set, plan and achieve goals for both weight and exercise
...Improve Self-Worth and confidence
...Live daily life in a stress-free flow
...Increase productivity and effectiveness
...Resolve conflicts and improve relationships
...Improve communications
...Handle changes in self-image
...Deal with others’ reactions to you as you develop your Healthy Weight & Body

This looks like a solid plan for managing emotional eating, by understanding hidden meanings, and taking concrete steps to change self-defeating habits. The Extraordinary Self Program is available by phone with groups or one-on-one, and will be available through e-learning in the future. Dr. Diane Kramer, founder of PeakSkills Learning Systems, is dedicated to empowering organizations and individuals to transform to high levels of excellence.

Dr. Abby Aronowitz, www.ediets.com