2 Non Diet Tips to Cope with Emotional Eating During Covid-19

I googled “COVID 19 Diet Tips” and found 427,000,000 results. Not surprised. We are all concerned about our health, and our loved one’s health right now.

Social Media is FULL of tips for health eating. It is also FULL of pictures, of younger thinner bodies, that can make us feel shame about our older bodies.

Weight shaming happens on social media, and in other places too. There are many hashtags out there to contribute to the shame of body changes during this pandemic.

I have been trying to approach my food mindfully, but there are days where eating with intention is HARDER. My mind does go back to diet-y thoughts about my food and my body. I am in a much better place than I was years back, about my body. BUT, I can still drift down that diet stream.

It isn’t surprising that we are struggling with body perception during the lock-down right now.

• We believe weight has an impact on our health, as a generality.

• We, as a collective, are very concerned about health right now.

• We’re concerned about our whole lives, right now.

I can talk to you about ditching dieting, or repairing your relationship to food, but your head may still be thinking about your weight changes. This may have you worried about how you look.

Body image thoughts start early and can originate from our mothers, fathers, magazines, friends and now, social media.

Even though you may be here for non diet tips to cope with weight gain through this pandemic, you may still be stressing about body changes. As a woman of 54, I understand.

Maybe we should start there with that one word.

STRESS.

People are stressing about their weight during this pandemic. Let’s face it, we are stressing about everything, aren’t we?

Our lives, our homes, our belief systems.

We’re even forced to take stock of our careers, through job loss for so many. We try to cope, through Facetime, Zoom, and seeing elderly parents at the window. All of this tears at out hearts, creates isolation and with it STRESS.

We are seeking comfort in cooking and baking and eating. There is nothing wrong with that, at a time like this. We are enjoying time with our families, in rotating lock downs, and reconnecting.

Food, like a smile is a universal connector. Let that rest right here.

It makes sense doesn’t it?

We are also coping through humour. Humour creates great unity. There are so many terms out there, poking fun at weight during this pandemic. I’m not going to share them, because they are harmful, but I do acknowledge that humour gets us through.

Everyone needs and turns to humour in a time of stress & crisis.

Right now there is a LOT of stress and crisis. We are a divided world. That just doesn’t feel good.

None of this can feel good.

I touch on diet culture and diet messages in my Food and Body Freedom guide.

If you’ve joined a program, and you’re worried about your eating, and your body, I honour you. I’m in this with you and I have been there.

Seeing posts and media, saying it’s ok to eat emotionally during a pandemic, might just be just even MORE conflicting for you. I have had my own conflicting thoughts come up about eating emotionally, and if you are around my age, those food and body thoughts WILL surface.

It’s normal to think about food and body right now.

The stress that these thoughts cause, only add to the global stress we are all absorbing. STRESS, over anything else, is a main contributor to poorer health. If you are torn between colour coding foods, tracking, and wanting to eat your bag of chips in front of Netflix, you are just adding stress.

If you are feeling stressed, take out a sheet of paper and divide it into 2 columns.

Make a list of what you can control, and what you can’t. Focus on what is IN your control, Even if it is one thing. We focus on controlling food, when we feel OUT of control. Seeing the things that we stress over, and have no control over anyways, just increases anxiety, and the stress response.

Turn this time into an opportunity.

Instead of stressing over your body and the feelings of failure that inevitably come with dieting, create AWARENESS to understand your patterns around food!

Do you:

• Eat when anxious, angry, lonely or tired?

• Eat mindlessly, and hit the bottom of the chip bag, before the first episode of Ozark is over?

You can NOTICE:

• Feelings. Before you eat, take a breath. Can you notice what you are feeling?

• Hunger and fullness. Are you hungry? Are you eating for emotional reasons?

PLEASE, do not turn the tools of Intuitive Eating and Mindful Eating into the hunger and fulness diet. We all eat without hunger, for pleasure, at weddings, holidays, parties and celebrations. This is all about creating that AWARENESS of why you eat to cope and how much. This is key into creating a flexible way of eating that serves your cells AND your soul.

We believe we need outside structure to “manage” our eating. Outside structure can interrupts the lessons of observing our own patterns of eating.

Looking to change your patterns in the way you think about your body and food?

Trust Yourself Around Food is a podcast episode that might help!

Self Compassion is another episode that can also change how you thing, and how you ACT toward yourself.

Don’t let the COVID 19 diet memes and harmful chatter get you down.

xo

Tanya, A Mindful Nutritionist.