Do you have food cravings? Craving for food? Are you binge eating? Overeating? Please note that I use the words "therapy for binge eating in London", "binge eating therapy in London", "counseling for binge eating in London", "binge eating counseling in London", "counselling for binge eating in London", "binge eating counselling in London", "London counselling for binge eating", "therapy for food addiction in London", "food addiction therapy in London", "counseling for food addiction in London", "food addiction counseling in London", "counselling for food addiction in London", "food addiction counselling in London", "London counselling for food addiction", "counsellor for compulsive eating in central London", "compulsive eating counsellor in central London", "counselor for compulsive eating in central London", "compulsive eating counselor in central London", "therapist for comfort eating in central London", "comfort eating therapist in central London", "psychotherapy for comfort eating in London", "comfort eating psychotherapy in London", "therapist for emotional eating in central London", "emotional eating therapist in central London", "psychotherapy for emotional eating in London", "emotional eating psychotherapy in London", "psychotherapist for addiction in central London, "addiction psychotherapist in central London", interchangeably. I am trained & accredited as an addiction counsellor, psychotherapist & therapist to help addicts with their addictions and I am happy to discuss differences between those therapies with you.
Counselling London Psychotherapy – Food Addiction, Comfort Eating, Emotional Food, Comfort Food, Overeating
Comfort Eating, Emotional Eating, Binge Eating, Comfort Food Addiction, Compulsive Eating, Overeating
Comfort Eating or Emotional Eating
Turning To Food For Comfort Eating food can be an enjoyable experience, it can make us happy. Yet when we eat exclusively because of this, and not because we are hungry, this may become a habit. We may seek comfort or distraction through food. We all have our favourite foods and there are many degrees of comfort eating, from the occasional turning to comfort food, to a full on binge. We may be very willful, disciplined, so we learn to comfort eat rather than binge. Our comfort eating or craving for food may include convenient food, physically comforting food, nostalgic food or indulgent food. We may select certain foods for certain moods or effects, e.g. favourite snack or warm, hearty food.
Emotional Eating At some level we are all emotional eaters, but for some emotional eating can get out of hand, as our emotions increasingly trigger our eating. Our emotional eating may have become learnt behaviour. We may use food to deal with what we are feeling, instead of satisfying our hunger, not even being aware of it sometimes. Our emotional eating may be out of boredom, anxiety. We don't have to emotionally eat because of "negative" feelings, like stress, loneliness, sadness, anxiety. And so called positive emotions, celebrations, love or romanticism can also be linked to emotional eating, as can major life events. We may also use emotional eating to keep our moods up. When the pleasures of emotional eating have gone, the underlying cause of our emotional eating may remain, and we may feel worse about the type & volume of the food we have consumed. We may have begun to eat more portions than usual or at unusual times. Our control around food may have diminished. Usually our emotional eating comes on suddenly, demanding to be satisfied instantly (and often it needs to be specific food), whereas our physical hunger tends to occur gradually and can wait. When we are emotionally eating, we find it hard to stop, yet when we are eating because we are hungry, we tend to stop when we are full. Eating when we are physically hungry tends to lave us more satisfied than emotionally eating, which may leave behind guilt. When eating becomes our main strategy to help manage our emotions, then we may be in difficulty.
Comfort Eating Triggers We may have begun to eat to soothe our emotional issues. Some of us may look for something to nibble or eat, so we can tune out what's gong on in our head. We may also use comfort eating as a pause or reward between tasks. We may comfort eat when we are down or feeling good. We may often turn to comfort food (even when not really hungry), triggered by other people's comments, or our own internal monologue, maybe through feeling bored, sad, hurt, disappointed, upset, depressed, anxious, angry or even happy. We may have food craving with feelings underlying. Some people binge eat regardless of what mood they are in. We may have what some people call a food addiction, eating addiction
Historical & Cultural Context We may turn to our favourite comfort food for instant gratification, which may have origins in our past. Certain food may have a nostalgic or cultural element. When we were younger, we may have been given food to help us feel better, or as a treat or reward. (Some of us may not have been rewarded by food, but in our adulthood can do this now for ourselves.) Hooked on our favourite foods now, in the past we may have associated food with comfort, to temporarily distract from our discomfort or emotional pain. This distraction can bring temporary comfort, yet doesn't help us to cope with difficult emotions. Rather than feel our feelings, we may have learnt to suppress them, and experiencing this emptiness, have learnt to turn to comfort food to feed our need as opposed to an enjoyable source of nutrition, getting our needs met in ways other than through food.
Comfort eating can be about using food to fill an emotional void, or a symptom of a struggle in tackling something difficult. We may crave food, turn to comfort eating for a quick fix which can give us temporary solace. Most of us have uncomfortable feelings and we may use food as a distraction to give us short term relief. Turning to food for comfort may provide us with this temporary relief, compensate for something else missing, yet our underlying issues have not gone away. After our comfort food has been consumed, we may still be consumed with our difficulty, and we may become more depressed. Alienated, lonely, empty or hollow inside we may seek comfort food to fill this. Yet our inner hunger and sense of loneliness may continue, as our moods rise & dip. We may feel guilty or ashamed for not taking care of ourselves, especially if we put on weight. Counselling & psychotherapy can offer help with this struggle and how else we might respond to our hunger need.
Binge eating
Binge eating is different to occasionally overeating. (It is not uncommon to overeat occasionally, many people do. Hungry inside some of us may have a habit of overeating.) When we frequently binge eat, we may have problems exercising control over our food consumption, eating large amounts of food in one go, maybe eating quickly. We may have episodes of uncontrollable eating or binge eating, consuming a lot of food. When we are binge eating, or compulsive eating, we are powerless to stop & out of control. We may also like to do other things at the same time (e.g. TV, internet, etc.). We may get initial comfort & soothing from binge eating, yet other feelings follow. We may worry about our weight, become disgusted or depressed because of our overeating. We may react by going on a diet, fasting or going on a campaign of exercising. We may become obsessed with food & our body, appearance, with frequent weight fluctuations. Eating alone or secretly, we may try to hide our binge eating from others, in the hope that they are unaware of our eating problem. After we have binged, we may have deep regret, be ashamed or guilty. We may even isolate ourselves from others. Overtime our energy levels may decrease, as we become lethargic. Our esteem & confidence may sink very low.
Counselling & psychotherapy can help you identify & recognise the emotions you have that you use food to deal with, acknowledging your powerful feelings & hunger needs. (see related topics). We may have become so attached to eating for comfort, struggling to let go of this. The therapy may also support you in finding other ways for you to eat and express your emotions. Comfort eating & binge eating can also be seen as wanting more of nourishment outside of us, as if we are not enough. Counselling & psychotherapy may include this in our work together, and support you in becoming aware & responding differently to physical & emotional hunger.
