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Tip of the Week: Powerlessness

You may think that the main thing you're struggling with is feeling powerless over your uncontrollable urge to eat. However, that sense of powerlessness over food, although deeply agonizing, is really a cover-up, and the consequence, of a deeper experience of powerlessness.

Consider the following questions...

Do you feel powerless about how to deal with your self-doubts?
Do you feel powerless about how to get real satisfaction in life?
Do you feel powerless to insure your own sense of safety?
Do you feel powerless to appropriately assert your independence?
Do you feel powerless to fill yourself up when you feel empty inside?

You eat when you feel powerless in any or all of these situations, because the experience of powerlessness is almost instantaneously transformed into the uncontrollable urge to eat. Dealing with this automatic behavior is the cornerstone of the Shrink Yourself Program.

In the first couple of sessions, we'll teach you how to overcome these five experiences of powerlessness by focusing on the fact that you are not really powerless, but instead are needlessly giving away your personal power.

Once you realize that you are in control of yourself and your life, your urge to eat will be controllable. Not only will you reclaim your power in your relationship to food, but you will increase your personal power in all the areas of your life.


	Make emotional eating, food addiction, overeating, and binge eating a thing of the past! Not only will you see a difference in your body, you will see a difference in how you relate to food and everything else in your life. Click here to join now.

18 Comments In the order they were posted.

Marna said...

Thanks for you inspirational articles! I'am a emosional eater for years and see forward to break this destuctive way of eating.

Anonymous said...

Too if i can curb this emotional eating habit

Irina said...

Can you find me a job so I won't feel powerless? Just kidding for all this self-improvment gurus they better go to change the goverment to let people more jobs and universal healthcare

jodi said...

so true. now, being aware of whats happening psychologically, i already feel a sense of control /understanding over the situation. thanks for all your insight. im getting thinner!

Nette said...

I wish this could be really, really true. I am really afraid that I'll spend the money on yet another weight loss scheme, only to find that, even though I know what the problem is, the mental stumbling block is too difficult to actually overcome. I have a friend who tells me things like: if you're eating because of an emotional issue, stop eating and deal with the emotional issue. I'm not stupid, of course I know this. Tell me how to deal with it in a way that will make it fixed for good, that doesn't involve "running in place" for five minutes to distract myself. 'Cause it'll be back again, I assure you.

Pheobe said...

I agree with Nette. I understand that it's emotional, but i just can't stop it. I try to sit and deal with what may be causing it but i don't know how to.

Michelle said...

That's exactly what our program helps you do. If you're an emotional eater you can't just white knuckle it and stop. You have to be taught how to address your life issues instead of simply eating to cope.

Cwilson said...

Knowing that you are a emotional eater is half the battle. Trying to control yourselve is a challenge. Being a suvivor of incest, thirty years later with a successful life, at times I feel powerless. I wish to one day truley believe I am powerful.

luu said...

another great article. I know that but still is difficult to me to stop the binge. Til one day i will :

Alissa said...

Definitely numbers 1, 4, and 5 are it for me. Asserting my independence. And I agree with Nette that I know it is an emotional issue, and eating to fill up the emptiness inside, but making the change in behavior is really difficult. Mine is also because it is comfortable to be in the eating stage sometimes because I don't know what's on the other side. It could be good, but since we are not sure, it's hard to make that jump. I am thinking about the program with my cousin to do. She would be a great one for us to share this together. Thanks so much for the daily emails.

Anna said...

How do you white knuckle it when chocolate is such a quick easy fix...for the moment. You either have others mad at you or yourself. Why do I have such a hard time letting it be others?! I have over 45 years since I was sexually abused and I don't want to go to my grave still feeling unworthy. I'm not sure I will ever feel safe...it happened in my home! I've moved and don't even reside in that state anymore yet I feel the pain and fear through the air waves. Sugar gives instant comfort when needed. I admit that it is now an enemy of mine as larger or larger than the original enemy, the sexual abuser! I hate to admit that this love of sugar has caused this much pain and yet I run to it.

Michaela said...

I don't know how to get rid of this emotional eating when I have to be around food all the time and when it is simply a part of life to have all sorts of emotional issues to deal with. It's just not normal to deal with them by eating, but I just can't help it....I wish I could afford to go to some sort of a Detox Centre, where I would have no access to food apart from healthy meals would be brought to me by others. That's how bad it is. The most frustrating is that the doctors simply don't get it. They go on recommending diets and excercise as if it was that simple.....One day I'll win this war with myself - I hope.

Julia said...

I was an emotional eater as well,but also found out I was a food addict and flour and sugar products would trigger me to eat. I could not stop eating even if I wanted to. If you can eliminate the 2 groups of food products from your life you'll find it is easier to not over eat. Also I have a sensitivity to corn and ALL it's products. This is a fact known to the food industry and the medical profession yet, the food industry adds more corn syrup,sugar and flour, and the doctors knowing the addictive qualities of these foods tell us to just say no like they told our grandparents years ago. This food is not the same food our grandparents ate. We are eating a drug not food and we are addicts. Try clearing these foods out of your life for 3 months. I promise you you'll lose weight and get your sanity back and be able to say no! I no longer eat the stuff and my life is so much better for it.

E said...

Making the food behave is not the answer. Simply eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are full. If you are mad, if you are sad, if you are feeling powerless, etc., pray about it. The only way to do this is to fill up on God, not food. That said, there are real food sensitivities in the world. Gluten makes four-fifths of my family sick. So don't eat what makes you sick.

Y said...

I understand where Julia E are coming from. Weighdown stopped my purging and OA gave me the knowledge about sugar flour. I was also sexually abused by many family members some dead, some alive. One dead apologized, two alive apologized hasn't stopped the terror, I believe those experiences are hardwired into my system so that I'll always react to certain stimuli. There is an Anonymous program for incest survivors that'll help you cope. OA will help you understand why you do it, WeighDown gives spiritual help and practical advise a little bit too much religion for me. This is my 4th week off sugar. My sister I are doing it together. No desire, no urges. Have junk in the house but have no interest in it. It's here for family friends who want it and don't have a problem with it. Keep coming back,getting your feelings out works!

Shan said...

Thank you for these inspirational emails. I have been sitting on the fence for months now, contemplating wether I should invest in yet another program to deal with my unhealthy relationship with food and obesity. During that time, I have enjoyed reading the blog entries and found them to be insightful and at times, inspirational. I believe that all theories mentioned in the blogs above as to why we turn to food to deal with our emotions have validity, wether it be that some foods act as a drug in our system and cause us to crave uncontrollably or wether it is our past experience of abuse and the unmanageable residue of emotions. What is so interesting and inspiring about the Shrink Yourself program is that it seems to highlight the real solution, regardless of whether you are using food as a drug or pacifier. The common solution as I have understood it to be is mostly about empowering individuals to be brave and strong enough to manage the uncomfortableness and fear of the thoughts and emotions that often surface regarding past abuse, addictive cravings or emotional disturbances. So, instead of trying to chase away or avoid the uncomfortable feelings, we learn to "sit with them" knowing that they wont kill us, knowing that as scary and uncomfortable as this can be it is less harmful than turning to the food. I find the information that I have read both on the blogs as well as in the book resonate with me on a profound level and for that reason I am going to give the program a try. Why? because I am worth it!! I will sign up today and i encourage all of you to do the same, because you are worth it...you are worth this attempt and a thousand others. We are capable of overcoming this unhealthy response to our uncomfortable feelings. We no longer have to continue the coping mechanisms of our past Besides, they don't work. In fact, they make our emotional and physical health worse. We can do better.

Amy said...

I've never NOT turned to food. It is my comfort and my friend. Telling me not to eat is like telling me not to breathe. It's going to take more than a pep rally/cheer session to free me from my addiction to food.

ParfaitMoi said...

YES! YES! YES! To all of those questions about all those feelings of powerlessness. Perhaps I am not alone and there is a definite solution within reach!

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Shrink Yourself

End Emotional Eating

Tip of the Week: Powerlessness

End
Emotional
Eating