Why do we feel guilty?

The main feeling I used to have after yet another emotional eating session or a binge was : GUILT. Most of the people who struggle with the same problem tend to tell me the same: “I feel guilty, ashamed of my eating habits”. 

Here are couple of reasons why we feel guilty:

  1. You feel you are acting our of control, that you have no motivation or willpower to push through the cravings. You feel that you are not trying hard enough (Believe me you are if you have been doing this over and over again)
  2. You keep breaking promises that you have made to others and to yourself how this time you will get on top of this behaviour, change your ways of eating and possibly lose weight. We feel almost ridiculous to constantly be the “one person” who is either dieting or restricting themselves and yet we also binge in front of others when we are in a “down” phase
  3. You know it’s harming your health and you are not sure why you can’t just stop. Isn’t this information enough to make you stop? You are thinking:’ What is wrong with me? I will be sick one day if I don’t, stop, why can’t I stop overeating?”

If you are feeling guilty, remember this is not a choice you made. You don’t want this for yourself. It’s an urge that happens when we are triggered by food, items, words, people etc…we get all emotional and we can’t think of another way to soothe ourselves but with food. 

Using food to numb emotions is a real thing. Food helps us survive after all. Whether this started because you were constantly on diets and now you can’t seem to stop eating, or food was always your mechanism for coping with difficult emotions, it doesn’t matter, the struggle is real. 

The problem with guilt is that it’s not a positive emotion, it’s a negative one.  When we feel a negative emotion our behaviour that follows is also negative. Guilt can be very triggering and it can make you believe that if you conquer your appetite, it will go away. It won’t. 

Guilt only goes away once you start thinking about what is it that triggered you in the first place. 

What feeling are you trying to numb with food? 
Will food actually solve the problem?
What can you do differently to solve this problem?
How would you feel if you solved this problem without food?

If you want to make peace with food and end emotional eating, you can make the first step and book your free Strategy session with me here!