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ACT: Taking Hurt to Hope – Struggling with Emotional Eating: Feeding [or starving] your Feelings
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Welcome to ACT taking hurt to hope. Today we are going to have a discussion about something we all do but when we do it alot, we get ourselves into trouble. Eating or not eating for emotional reasons.
Think about why you eat. You already know what foods are healthy for you and what are so called ‘junk foods’ . Despite knowing all this that you probably find yourself craving potato chips or chocolate or cookies. When you feel happy you might want to feel even better by ordering a pizza. If you feel sad you might crave some ice cream. Emotional eating is about eating especially high calorie, high sugar and salt foods with the aim of changing feelings, or more specifically trying to get rid of bad feelings like boredom, loneliness, anxiety. Emotional hunger can feel like an obsession that needs to be satisfied instantly with certain foods, what is often called comfort foods. Comfort foods are available everywhere and usually much cheaper than healthy foods. According to research, 75%of overeating is caused by emotions we are trying to manage.
Today you will get the chance to speak to an expert Dr Emmett Bishop, Medical Director, Adult Services, Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado. He is a past president and fellow of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals and a fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders.