Tips + Tools That Actually WORK! A Dietitian’s Best Emotional Eating Help

Summary

In this insightful video, Colleen, a non-diet registered dietitian, offers a five-step guide and three tools to navigate emotional eating. She emphasizes allowing oneself to eat, increasing emotional awareness, meeting biological needs, assessing personal needs, and reflecting on choices. Colleen also shares her personal strategies, such as journaling and painting by numbers, to manage stress and emotions effectively. The video encourages self-reflection and experimentation to find what works best for individual emotional well-being.

Takeaways

• 🍽️ Allow yourself to have the food you desire as restriction can lead to a stronger desire and potential overeating.
• 🧘 Increase emotional awareness as it's crucial for understanding and navigating emotional eating.
• 🏋️ Meet your biological needs to reduce the pull towards comfort foods, especially when you're calorie or nutrient deficient.
• 🤔 Assess what you are needing when experiencing certain emotions to understand if it's a craving for food or a need for something else.
• 🚶 Reflect on your choices and their outcomes to learn how to manage emotions effectively and constructively.
• 📝 Use an emotions reflection tool to identify and process emotions, which can be done through journaling or apps.
• 📚 Reflective journaling helps to manage emotions by assessing and taking action on what you need to feel better.
• 🎨 Experiment with different self-care activities to find what helps you manage stress or emotions effectively.
• 📊 Keep a weekly recap to assess your emotional management and self-care practices to identify trends and areas for improvement.
• 🔄 Continuously test and assess different emotional management tools as what works for you may change over time.
• 🌟 The video emphasizes that managing emotional eating is a practice that improves with time, reflection, and self-awareness.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is emotional eating and how to navigate it with the help of five steps and three tools.

Who is the speaker in the video script?

The speaker in the video script is Colleen, a non-diet registered dietitian.

What is the first tip Colleen suggests for dealing with emotional eating?

The first tip is to allow yourself to have the food you desire, as denying it can lead to a stronger desire and potential overeating.

How does Colleen explain the psychological impact of allowing oneself to eat desired foods?

Colleen explains it by comparing it to not thinking of a pink elephant or being trapped in a Chinese finger trap, where the more you resist, the stronger the desire becomes.

What is the second tip for managing emotional eating according to the script?

The second tip is to increase emotional awareness, which involves identifying and addressing uncomfortable emotions rather than avoiding them.

Why is it important to meet biological needs to prevent emotional eating?

Meeting biological needs is important because if the body is not getting enough calories, macronutrients, or other physical necessities, it will be drawn towards high-fat, high-sugar foods, increasing the likelihood of emotional eating.

What does Colleen suggest doing after identifying emotions in the process of managing emotional eating?

After identifying emotions, Colleen suggests assessing what you are needing, which may involve finding ways to alleviate the emotions or addressing the root causes.

What is the purpose of reflecting on the emotional eating experience?

Reflecting on the emotional eating experience helps to assess whether the chosen action was helpful or not, and it aids in learning what to do differently next time to manage emotions more effectively.

What are the three tools that Colleen introduces to help with emotional eating?

The three tools Colleen introduces are an emotions reflection journal, a reflective journaling tool for action and assessment, and a weekly recap for overall assessment and course correction.

How does Colleen use painting by numbers as a self-care activity to manage stress?

Colleen finds painting by numbers helpful as it allows her to zone out, concentrate on something else, and not have to make decisions, which provides a soothing break from stressors.

What is the significance of the weekly recap tool mentioned in the script?

The weekly recap tool is significant as it helps in looking back on the week to assess emotional management, self-care, and overall mood trends, which can assist in making adjustments for better emotional health.

How can the app that Colleen created assist in managing emotional eating?

The app assists by providing templates for emotions reflection, food movement, and self-care, allowing users to record, reflect, and assess their emotional eating experiences and self-care activities.

Outlines

00:00

🍪 Overcoming Emotional Eating Through Self-Acceptance

Colleen, a non-diet registered dietitian, introduces five steps to help viewers navigate emotional eating. The first step is to allow oneself to have the food they desire, as restrictions often lead to stronger cravings. She uses the analogy of a pink elephant and Chinese finger traps to illustrate how resisting desires can backfire. The importance of recognizing and addressing emotions is emphasized, as well as the need to meet biological needs, such as proper nutrition, to prevent the body from seeking comfort in high-fat or high-sugar foods.

05:03

🧘‍♀️ Enhancing Emotional Awareness and Assessing Needs

The second step involves increasing emotional awareness, which can be challenging as people often avoid uncomfortable emotions. Colleen discusses her personal journey and the role of therapy in learning to feel and address emotions. The third step is about ensuring biological needs are met, as the body will crave nutrients it's lacking. The fourth step is assessing what one is needing in response to their emotions, suggesting that understanding the underlying need can help in choosing the right action, whether it's social interaction, creating a to-do list, or allowing oneself to eat a comforting food mindfully.

10:03

📝 Tools for Emotional Eating: Reflection and Journaling

Colleen presents three tools to assist with emotional eating. The first tool is an emotions reflection, where one identifies their feelings and the reasons behind them, using journaling as a method to process emotions effectively. The second tool is reflective journaling, which involves assessing and reflecting on actions taken to manage emotions, such as self-care activities or exercise, and determining their helpfulness. She shares her personal experience with painting by numbers as a stress-relieving activity and the importance of trying different activities to find what works best for the individual.

15:05

🔄 Adjusting Emotional Management Through Weekly Recaps

The final tool discussed is the weekly recap, which involves reviewing the past week's emotional management, self-care, and food movement to identify trends and areas for improvement. Colleen shares her personal experience of using this tool to recognize a decrease in self-care and采取措施 to address it, such as painting by numbers more frequently and creating to-do lists to manage stress. She emphasizes the importance of reflection and adjustment in managing emotions and highlights the benefits of using an app she created to track and visualize progress over time.

👍 Encouraging Practice and Sharing of Emotional Management Techniques

In conclusion, Colleen encourages viewers to practice the steps and tools for managing emotional eating, acknowledging that it takes time to master. She invites viewers to share their self-care and emotional management tools in the comments for mutual benefit and suggests reflecting on the effectiveness of different strategies in various emotional situations. She also prompts viewers to subscribe to her channel and engage with the content for ongoing support in their journey towards healthier emotional eating habits.

Keywords

💡Emotional Eating

Emotional eating refers to the act of consuming food in response to emotions rather than physical hunger. It is a common behavior that can lead to overeating and unhealthy dietary habits. In the video, the main theme revolves around strategies to navigate and manage emotional eating. The speaker, Colleen, provides tips and tools to help viewers understand and cope with their emotional relationship with food.

💡Non-Diet Approach

The non-diet approach is a philosophy that encourages individuals to abandon traditional dieting practices and instead focus on developing a healthy relationship with food. Colleen, as a non-diet registered dietitian, emphasizes the importance of listening to one's body and avoiding the guilt associated with diet culture. This approach is central to the video's message of healing and empowerment through self-awareness and acceptance.

💡Emotion Awareness

Emotion awareness is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's emotions. In the context of the video, increasing emotion awareness is presented as a critical step in addressing emotional eating. Colleen suggests that being able to identify emotions is fundamental to navigating emotional eating, as it allows individuals to better understand their triggers and respond appropriately.

💡Biological Needs

Biological needs refer to the essential physical requirements of the body, such as nutrients, calories, and hydration. Colleen explains that when these needs are not met, the body may crave certain types of foods, leading to emotional eating. She emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the body's basic needs are satisfied to reduce the likelihood of turning to food for emotional comfort.

💡Self-Care

Self-care encompasses activities and practices that individuals engage in to maintain their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. In the video, self-care is presented as a tool to manage emotional eating by providing alternative ways to cope with emotions. Colleen shares her personal self-care activity of painting by numbers as an example of a constructive outlet for stress relief.

💡Mindful Eating

Mindful eating involves being fully present and attentive while consuming food, paying attention to hunger and satiety cues, and making conscious choices about what and how much to eat. Although not explicitly mentioned, the concept is implied in the video when discussing the importance of being aware of why and how one is eating, particularly in the context of emotional eating.

💡Journaling

Journaling is the act of writing down one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences as a form of self-reflection and emotional processing. In the video, Colleen recommends journaling as a tool for emotional eating help, suggesting that it can help individuals process their emotions and identify patterns in their eating behaviors. She provides examples of how she uses journaling in her own life to manage stress and emotions.

💡Cravings

Cravings are intense desires for specific foods, often high in sugar, fat, or salt. In the context of emotional eating, cravings can be a response to emotional states rather than physical needs. Colleen discusses the importance of allowing oneself to have cravings without guilt, as denying them can lead to a stronger desire and potential overeating.

💡Reflective Practices

Reflective practices involve looking back on one's experiences, actions, and emotions to gain insights and learn from them. In the video, Colleen emphasizes the importance of reflection as a tool for managing emotional eating. She suggests that reflecting on one's choices and their outcomes can help individuals make more conscious decisions about their eating habits.

💡Weekly Recap

A weekly recap is a review of one's activities, emotions, and self-care practices over the course of a week. Colleen introduces the concept of a weekly recap as a tool for emotional eating help, allowing individuals to assess their emotional management and identify areas for improvement. She shares her personal experience of using a weekly recap to notice trends in her emotional state and self-care practices.

Highlights

Emotional eating is addressed with five steps and three tools for effective navigation.

Allowing oneself to eat desired foods can prevent a buildup of desire leading to overeating.

Increasing emotional awareness is crucial for managing emotional eating.

Meeting biological needs, such as calorie and macronutrient intake, is essential to avoid cravings.

Assessing what one truly needs in response to emotions can help in choosing healthier coping mechanisms.

Reflecting on emotional eating experiences helps in understanding what works and what doesn't.

An 'emotions reflection' tool is introduced to help identify and process emotions.

Reflective journaling is a tool to assess and take action on emotional needs.

The importance of experimenting with different self-care activities to find what works for an individual.

Using a 'weekly recap' tool to assess emotional trends and make necessary adjustments.

The app created by the speaker integrates emotional reflection and self-care to track emotional eating.

The significance of not expecting food to fix emotional issues but rather to provide temporary relief.

The psychological impact of allowing oneself to make food choices without guilt.

The role of therapy in learning to feel and address uncomfortable emotions.

The concept that biology always wins, emphasizing the importance of meeting physical needs to prevent emotional eating.

The practicality of journaling for processing emotions and managing stress.

The app's feature of saving entries as 'Feelgood faves' and 'Lessons Learned' for quick reference.

The motivational aspect of seeing improvements in self-care and emotional management over time.

Transcripts

emotional eating is a big topic but

today I want to give you some of my best

emotional eating help so you can

navigate it I've got five steps for you

then I'll give you three tools that you

can use and I'll walk you through some

of my own emotional real life examples

on how I navigate it if you are new here

hello my name is Colleen I am a non-diet

register dietitian here to help you heal

your relationship with food stop dieting

and start learning to listen to your

body and feeling more comfortable and in

control around food get rid of the guilt

and live a happier and healthier life

without the bogus diet culture food

rules you're going to love it here all

right let's get into the five steps of

emotional eaing help that I have for you

tip number one is to actually allow

yourself if we say we shouldn't do

something or we can't have something we

want it more think about it this way

don't think of a pink elephant you

probably just had like a vision of a

pink elephant come to your brain right

or think of it like those kind of like

Chinese finger traps where the more that

you try to fight it the tighter that it

gets the stronger of a hole that it has

on you and when we try to say we

shouldn't or can't do something the

desire to do said thing kind of builds

up like I kind of explain it like water

against a dam until it's kind of just

going to come crashing down and it's

going to be in a much stronger way than

if we would have just allowed ourselves

to have some so for example if you say I

I shouldn't eat the cookies for a pickme

up on a bad day well when you allow

yourself to actually eat the cookie or

when the desire to eat the cookies

become so strong you're probably going

to eat more cookies than if you would

have just allowed yourself in the first

place now that doesn't mean you have to

eat those things but allowing yourself

saying that is a choice that I could

make if I wanted to has such a strong

psychological impact tip number two is

to increase your emotion

awareness now this is something that can

be hard for people we tend to want to

sweep things especially those more

uncomfortable emotions under the rug now

I grew up doing this and this is one of

the big reasons of why I go to therapy

as an adult is to learn how to feel

those feelings and to address them so

being able to identify what emotions

that you are feeling is really one of

the first things in navigating emotional

eating and it sounds like such a simple

thing but for a lot of people it's

harder than expected and it can take

some practice in learning how to do that

tip number three this is a really really

important one it is to have your

biological needs met now let me tell you

what I mean by that I say this all the

time biology always wins if your body is

not getting what it physically needs

from a calorie standpoint a type of

macronutrient standpoint like maybe

maybe you are restricting calories or

fat or carbs our bodies are going to be

drawn towards those types of foods even

more so then you're likely going to have

this double pull to these foods that we

tend to think of when we think of

emotional eating so like the cookies the

chips those things they give us Comfort

right they taste good they might have

some Nostalgia to them but they also are

likely the foods that we are not

allowing ourselves especially if we are

dieting the carbs the fat the sugar

those things and the reason that we're

drawn to those things is our body needs

fat our body needs carbs our body needs

calories and when we don't give it

enough of those things I always say high

fat foods high sugar foods our body sees

those as very efficient Foods because

fat is going to be more nutrient dense

that's not necessarily A Bad Thing and

sugar is going to be something that is

going to be able our bodies can absorb

pretty quickly into energy so it it see

it doesn't see those things as bad like

Diet culture tells us our body see as oh

my gosh that's an efficient source for

me to get the stuff that this body this

person here is not allowing me so having

our biological needs met is going to

take away one of those poles towards the

cookies when we have such strong pulls

especially coming from the psychological

as well as the biological side of things

we're setting ourselves up to eat those

Foods in a kind of bingy likely doesn't

feel super great kind of out of control

way and then we're probably just going

to end up with a worse day because now

we have a tummy ache on the side of it

right we have another issue that we have

to handle tip number four here is to

assess what you are needing okay so once

we have identified what we're feeling we

want to ask ourselves okay what am I

needing for example if we say I'm

feeling stressed or anxious we then want

to ask ourselves okay what could I

potentially do to help fix this or to

alleviate it right we may not always be

able to fix or you know snap our fingers

and solve all of our emotional turmoil

that we're having but we can ask

ourselves what can I do to kind of

alleviate this or to help me work

through this so for me when I'm feeling

stressed and anxious I find it very

comforting and helpful to create a list

big fan of a to-do list or to look at my

week in a hole and say okay I know I'm

feeling stressed that I have to get all

of this done where can I put it in the

week knowing that it's not going to get

done right now but it has a place so

those are some things that you can do to

ask okay what are you needing maybe

you're feeling sad or lonely and what

you're needing is just some social

interaction right maybe you decide to

call a friend or go for a walk outside

with your partner and just kind of chat

about your day asking ourselves what

we're needing and carving out some time

to do those things can be super helpful

now sometimes food yes can be what we

are needing or what we are wanting that

is not bad that is not wrong if you are

saying man I just thinking about we have

some shortbread cookies in the um fridge

right now that's just exactly what I'm

wanting again allow yourself to have

that I always say food it absolutely can

be what we're needing it can be a pickme

up on a bad day but if we can't we

shouldn't expect that to fix our Bad Day

right it's probably not going to fix our

loneliness it's probably not going to

fix the stress of the mountainous to-do

list that we might have right it's

likely just going to if we eat that in a

way that doesn't feel good like I said

we're probably just going to add another

kind of crummy thing to our list if you

are having a craving yes absolutely

allow yourself because like we said if

we avoid that it's just going to build

up like water against a dam and then

come crashing down again we want to

think about what am I hoping that this

is going to do for me am I hoping that

it's going to give me a little bit of a

pickme up for the day or am I expecting

this to fix my bad day cuz like I said

food's not going to fix the loneliness

or the stress of the to-do list it can

be a temporary pickme up that's not bad

or wrong but we just want to keep in

mind what we're expecting this food to

do and how we're eating it is eating it

past fullness going to add to your

crummy day cuz now we got a tummy ache

and tip number five is to reflect okay

so after we have assessed our emotions

we've assessed okay what am I actually

needing in this moment we then want to

reflect so we've decided okay I'm going

to go for a walk or I'm going to eat the

brownie right whatever it is we then

want to assess our choice and say was

this helpful was it not taking a moment

to think about this and reflecting on

okay is this something I want to do next

time what might I tweak what what might

I do differently to help me manage my

emotions in the most effective and

constructive way that feels good both

mentally and physically okay now that we

have gone over those five steps let's go

over the three tools that I have for you

I will explain them and then I will also

give you some real life examples of how

used them let me find my phone and I'll

show you all righty so tool number one

that we have here this is what's I call

an emotions reflection so the first

thing that you want to do like I said is

to identify what am I feeling and also

recognize why might I be feeling this

way and start to kind of work through it

now you can do this on pen and paper you

can do this on the notes up of your

phone I use an app that I created

specifically for this I'll show you

where you can use it too there is a emot

reflection under the self-care journal

entry I select that then I really just

go to the notes section and just start

typing away processing my emotions I

will rage type if I'm feeling super

stressed or anxious or angry and then I

once I do that I will go ahead and

select my corresponding mood emotions

and any other details that I want to

give journaling is

extremely extremely effective when it

comes to emotional processing I cannot

stress that enough it's so simple but so

impactful get it out of your head make

it stop just swirling around it always

makes it feel 10 times worse and get it

onto pen and paper heck use a napkin or

use an app now tool number two is

reflective journaling so once you have

walked through your emotions you've

identified what you're feeling and

potentially why you might be feeling

that way this is where it's time for us

to do something about that something to

manage it right that was step four of

what we talked about assessing what

we're needing we're now taking action on

that and it's 100% okay if you're like I

really don't know what I'm needing when

I'm feeling XYZ emotion that is

absolutely okay this tool is actually

going to help you understand what will

be helpful to you so whether you do

decide to do a little bit of self-care

maybe you do a little bit of movement

some exercise to relieve some stress or

maybe you do turn to food you want to

take a moment to assess and reflect was

this helpful because we want to know

this for next time that's such valuable

information to say yeah that was helpful

or no not so much okay so real life

example for me my goto self-care item to

d-stress is painting by numbers I've

talked about this on my channel before

and I realized this was super helpful

because I decided to a try it and then

reflect and I realized that taking the

time to really zone out and to

concentrate on something else I really

don't have to think right I sit down it

tells me what to do was really helpful

and kind of just when I needed to kind

of take the pressure off of the

stressors that I was feeling in my day

and kind of zone out and it just it felt

very soothing to me I made note of that

and I was like Wow cool that worked so I

wanted to continue doing it then one

time I was watching some kind of trashy

reality TV while I was doing it and I

realized honestly I also enjoyed that

even more and I reflected on this and I

realized that I loved not only kind of

just zoning out not having to make any

decisions not having to be the one in

charge I could literally just follow

what the paint by numbers was telling me

to do but it also is really helpful for

me to step away kind of from my own life

I just really loved that so as I was

reflecting on that I was like I love

this evening routine of painting my

numbers and kind of watching some trashy

reality TV I was like that is really

helpful for me so now I know what to do

when I'm feeling that way try it reflect

and assess I would love to know some of

your guys's go to activities like that

like self-care activities to help you

manage emotions drop those in the

comments below it is important for all

us to always kind of be testing and

assessing different things and

experimenting my therapist always says

that sometimes our tools this is in a

variety of instances can just stop

working for us and this isn't bad or

wrong it's just that we might need to

grab another tool from our toolbox at

that time you might need maybe like a

hammer instead of a wrench so share

yours Below in the comments we can kind

of get a little bit of a I don't know

variety going on pick one and try I

would love to try some of your guys' own

I'm always looking for new tools to add

to my self-care toolbox now

alternatively we shared an example that

was helpful right you might try

something that maybe doesn't help or

doesn't feel super good so let's say

maybe you were having such a stressful

day and then you turn to the ice cream

and you wound up overeating and had a

tummy ache we still it can feel

uncomfortable but we still do want to

reflect on this and make note of it and

be like hey you know what that didn't

feel super good I can still have the ice

cream if I want to again we don't want

to tell ourselves we can't do that but

maybe we say maybe next time I'll put it

in a bowl and maybe rather than eating

out of the carton that will help me be a

little bit more mindful of you know how

I'm feeling with ice cream am I still

enjoying it versus kind of switching to

autopilot mode and we can kind of that's

a lot of times when we can kind of set

ourselves up to mindlessly eat and eat

past fullness and then we wind up with

that tummy ache just like how journaling

is really helpful at helping us process

our emotions it's also really really

helpful to help us remember things that

felt good things that didn't help us

make note of that so that we can learn

so in the app there is food movement and

self-care template Reflections for you

but again you could also do this on pen

and paper this is just what I personally

use and there is also place where you

can rate your mood after doing certain

things so you can really see okay you

know this one was really helpful this

wasn't when as we're experimenting with

those it can take some time to figure

out I love painting my numbers you might

absolutely hate it right maybe you need

the opposite maybe you need a place

where you can feel like you have a

little bit more creativity you have a

little bit more say in things everyone

is different and that's why

experimenting with what works for you is

so so key you can also save entries as

Feelgood faves and Lessons Learned to

help identify okay this was something

that was helpful for me this is

something that wasn't so when you are in

the thick of your emotions you can

literally just go to your Feelgood faves

pick something boom you don't even have

to think about it you're ready to go

literally creating your own little

toolbox okay the last tool that I have

for you is what's called a weekly recap

so each week after I've done my

journaling I will look back on the week

and just see how it looks as a whole and

assess how I felt how was my emotional

management and also where is it kind of

trending cuz you can see week over week

how your mood changes how your self-care

changes how your satisfaction your

feelings all those things change so it

can help you kind of like course correct

real life example recently I was keeping

tabs on those things I was looking at my

weekly recap and I noticed that my

self-care portion of the weekly recap it

breaks it down to overall food movement

self-care it was 50% unsatisfied and my

emotions Reflections that I did were

less than Stellar I was did that rating

for them it was n great my food and

movement was fine but it was really the

self-care that kind of like stuck out to

me that mood specifically was not so

great so I made a point to work on that

for the following week so I took a look

at my journals that I had in the app and

I realized wow I only painted by numbers

once maybe I should try to do more of

that I know that's something that's

super helpful for me can help me with my

emotional management my stress and when

I looked into my emotions Reflections

that I did I noticed that I was feeling

really down and that probably help I

also noticed like I said to-do lists are

really helpful for me so when I feel

stressed about the amount of stuff

that's on my to-do list I was then able

to say okay this is what I said was

stressing me out what can I do about

that create a list fill out my planner

helps me every time now you can do a

weekly recap on your own you can just

think about it use pen and paper or you

can use the one in my app which will

roll everything up and tune to a pretty

little package for you to look at it's

incredibly helpful and I love that I can

really see the changes week over week so

then as I made those changes I saw my

self-care score improve the following

week and I was like that is so cool that

you can actually see the benefits of the

efforts that you're making and it makes

you want to do those things more because

you're like wow that actually did help

it's incredibly motivating I will link

the app that I created and the one that

I use in the description if you're

looking for an on thee-o option download

it give it a go you can get some free

journals to try in there to see if you

even like it nothing like this has

existed before it's something that I've

had in my head for a while now and let

me tell you it has been such a lifesaver

in Total Wellness food movement

self-care I know you're going to love it

too all right guys I hope this video was

helpful for you in Walking you through

those five steps of how to handle

emotional eating how to navigate it and

giving you those three tools for

emotional eating help it's definitely

something that takes practice to learn

how to do you probably won't hit the

nail on the head the first time that you

do that but the more that you practice

and reflect and assess the more easily

that you will be able to navigate

emotional eating in a way that feels

good both physically and mentally if you

like this video be sure to give it a

thumbs up hit subscribe to the channel

and like I said leave your top self-care

let's do this leave your

self-care or your emotional management

tools in the description but also this

can be really helpful is to identify

what it's for so like

my emotional management for when I'm

stressed is different from when I'm

lonely that's also something that you

can think through is okay what types of

these things of these emotional

management are helpful in what situation

so again that reflection is super

helpful for that be sure to hit thumbs

up on this video subscribe to the

channel hit the little bell to be

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uploaded and with that I'll see you in

the next one see you later