2493: The Most Common Cause for Overeating and How to Overcome It by Lizzie Merritt with Tiny Buddha

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily Episode 2493. The most common cause for overeating and how

[00:01:06] to overcome it by Lizzie Merritt with tinybouda.com. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik.

[00:01:13] Happy Saturday. Thank you so much for being here and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily

[00:01:18] where I act as your narrator of the best health and fitness blogs all for free.

[00:01:23] Now earlier this week, I read to you a post that discussed whether foods can be addictive.

[00:01:28] In that post and in my commentary after, I talked about overeating.

[00:01:33] So today's topic is actually sticking with that theme. And I promise you're going to find

[00:01:38] it fascinating.

[00:01:40] So with that, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:49] The most common cause for overeating and how to overcome it by Lizzie Merritt with tinybouda.com.

[00:01:56] Quote, When we run from our feelings, they follow us everywhere.

[00:02:02] Martha Beck, PhD.

[00:02:05] I've tried Paleo, the four-hour body, even body for life.

[00:02:10] I've tried intermittent fasting. That was no fun.

[00:02:13] I've tried low carb, carb cycling and carbinging.

[00:02:17] While I don't think that's a diet strategy, it was what I experienced.

[00:02:22] Sure, I lost weight temporarily but I never felt like I arrived.

[00:02:26] I never felt good.

[00:02:29] Ironically, it took me gaining weight to learn the secret.

[00:02:32] How will I know when I've arrived?

[00:02:36] Is there an image inside your head of what you should look like?

[00:02:40] I was haunted by those before and after pictures.

[00:02:43] I could certainly identify with the before picture, and I wanted to look like the after

[00:02:48] picture.

[00:02:49] But no matter how disciplined I ate, no matter how many fitness classes I did, I never

[00:02:54] felt like I reached the after picture.

[00:02:57] Eventually, my partner's job changed and stressed decided to make itself a nice and comfy

[00:03:02] spot on the internal couch in my mind.

[00:03:05] I found myself eating in front of the TV after dinner.

[00:03:08] I would sneak squares of chocolate when no one was looking.

[00:03:11] I had an extra glass of wine at night.

[00:03:14] Pretty soon, my clothes didn't fit quite right.

[00:03:18] Well, I lost the weight before I can do it again, right?

[00:03:22] But this time, my old tricks were not working.

[00:03:26] Not good enough.

[00:03:28] Early in our lives, the world teaches us that we need to have the perfect body in order

[00:03:32] to be worthy, worthy of love, attention, validation, you name it.

[00:03:37] And we learn that lesson well.

[00:03:39] We may not like it, but deep down how our bodies look really matters.

[00:03:44] And no matter how we look, we don't look good enough.

[00:03:48] Just spend 30 minutes watching TV and all the commercials will tell you.

[00:03:52] Nearly every ad campaign is telling us something to the effect of, we are not attractive

[00:03:57] enough unless we buy their product.

[00:03:59] We are not slim enough unless we buy their product.

[00:04:03] Or we are not happy enough, but we will be if we buy their product.

[00:04:08] Naturally not being fill in the blank enough feels bad.

[00:04:12] What do we turn to in order to help ourselves feel better?

[00:04:15] The commercials have an answer for that too.

[00:04:18] Their ads perpetuate the lie that food will make us feel better.

[00:04:22] For so many of us eating is an unconscious way of avoiding pain, the pain of worry,

[00:04:27] fear, anger, stress and doubt.

[00:04:31] All of which are normal feelings that are universal to us as humans.

[00:04:35] The thing is, these feelings are signals from our bodies.

[00:04:38] They are flashing signs with a message that we fail to read because we have our blinders

[00:04:43] on.

[00:04:44] We end up creating a layer of armor otherwise known as fat that protects us from our

[00:04:48] pain.

[00:04:49] The problem is that running from our pain creates new stresses like weight gain and health

[00:04:55] problems which are more painful than the original painful feelings we tried to escape

[00:04:59] from.

[00:05:00] You are not broken, there is no need to fix it.

[00:05:04] So how do we fix the pain that was caused by avoiding the pain?

[00:05:07] We can remove the armor of fat by letting down our defenses and allowing ourselves to not

[00:05:13] fix our pain, worry, fear or anger.

[00:05:17] When we make these feelings okay, we honor ourselves and our bodies.

[00:05:22] We have these feelings for a reason.

[00:05:24] They are not meant to be ignored.

[00:05:26] If we let ourselves really feel those painful emotions, we can then start the process of letting

[00:05:32] them go instead of stuffing them down our throats.

[00:05:36] Once we no longer have to protect ourselves from pain, then we are able to let go over

[00:05:40] excess weight as well.

[00:05:43] Quote.

[00:05:44] So even if the hot loneliness is there and for 1.6 seconds we sit with that restlessness

[00:05:49] when yesterday we couldn't sit for even 1, that's the journey of the warrior.

[00:05:55] Pema Chaudrin.

[00:05:57] I was finally able to simply acknowledge my fear of the unknown.

[00:06:01] Just naming it helped me to be still with it.

[00:06:04] I began to realize that it was not my extra weight that was the problem.

[00:06:09] My fear of the unknown was the disease that caused the symptom of gaining weight.

[00:06:13] Gradually I began and am still learning to appreciate my body for showing up for me.

[00:06:19] If I want to stand up, my legs work.

[00:06:22] If I want to eat, my insides digest my food.

[00:06:26] If I wanted to see, I opened my eyes.

[00:06:30] For me, acknowledging my feelings is the key to loving my body and letting go of unhealthy

[00:06:35] weight.

[00:06:37] Letting go practice.

[00:06:39] Try this quick visualization technique to practice honoring your feelings and letting them

[00:06:43] go.

[00:06:44] Take a deep breath.

[00:06:46] Try to name what it is that you are feeling.

[00:06:49] Just naming it helps.

[00:06:51] Feel where that feeling resides in your body.

[00:06:54] Is it creating tension in your shoulders, a feeling in the pit of your stomach?

[00:06:59] Imagine this feeling as a gas.

[00:07:01] Give it a color like yellow, green, gray or black.

[00:07:06] Pretend that you are able to reach into your body and compress this feeling like a snowball.

[00:07:11] Make it smaller and smaller until you can hold it in your hand.

[00:07:16] Now imagine that you are able to put a glass sphere around this feeling.

[00:07:21] See the gas inside of the glass ball.

[00:07:24] Mentally reach into your body and remove the ball of gas.

[00:07:28] Hold it in your hand and extend your arm.

[00:07:32] Loosen your fingers a little and notice your fingerprints on the glass.

[00:07:36] You have held it inside your body for so long that it almost felt like it was part of

[00:07:41] you, but it is separate and you can let it go.

[00:07:45] Then opening your fingers and slowly letting the ball drop to the floor.

[00:07:50] You may feel an irrational desire to scoop it up as it is falling.

[00:07:54] This is normal because the pain is so familiar that it almost feels scary to lose it.

[00:08:00] Let the ball drop all the way to the floor and shatter.

[00:08:04] See the gas escape and disappear, washed away in the clean air.

[00:08:09] This may take some practice since we are often good at letting go and then grabbing our

[00:08:12] fears back so we can dwell on them.

[00:08:15] Take with it.

[00:08:17] You might just find that releasing strong emotions lightens your physical body as well as your

[00:08:22] spiritual one.

[00:08:27] You just listen to the post titled The Most Common Cause for overeating and How to Overcome

[00:08:32] It by Lizzie Merritt with tinyboota.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:38] Why take one vacation with the family when you could take all of them?

[00:08:42] With Royal Caribbean, you don't just go to the beach.

[00:08:44] You visit a private island and race down the tallest water slide in North America.

[00:08:49] You don't just go for a road trip, you ATV and zip line through the jungle.

[00:08:55] You don't just go somewhere new.

[00:08:56] You repel down waterfalls and discover ancient temples because this isn't just any vacation.

[00:09:02] This is all the vacations.

[00:09:04] Come seek the Royal Caribbean.

[00:09:06] Ships registry Bahamas

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[00:09:36] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:09:39] If you happen to listen to my commentary from the post about food addiction earlier this

[00:09:43] week, you may remember me talking about cognitive behavioral therapy.

[00:09:49] That's again where a therapist helps patients monitor their thoughts and behaviors.

[00:09:54] Today's author Lizzy gave us some great examples of cognitive behavioral techniques.

[00:09:59] You remember those visualization techniques she described?

[00:10:03] Those were ways of monitoring thoughts and feelings and changing our behavior to help

[00:10:07] deal with unpleasant thoughts and feelings specifically.

[00:10:11] These types of techniques are often recommended by many therapists because they tend to work

[00:10:17] so long as we practice using them, just as Lizzy said, stick to it.

[00:10:23] Just like any other habit, we need to try and make our behaviors automatic.

[00:10:27] That way if we experience these feelings again, we have a go-to technique to help reduce

[00:10:33] them.

[00:10:34] Alright, that'll do it for today.

[00:10:36] I hope you have a great weekend if you're listening in real time and I'll see you back

[00:10:40] here tomorrow for the Sunday show and where your optimal life awaits.