Food for Thought: Coming to Our Senses

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy®

“There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if only we can come to our senses and feel it”. – Elizabeth A. Behnke

How could someone allow themselves to put on so much weight? Why can’t they just come to their senses? This – and much worse – is often what people who are Not Thin fear others are thinking about them. To be fair, it sometimes is what people think if they’ve never had any kind of overeating issue themselves.

I know from personal experience how easy it is to put on a lot of weight without even knowing. Hard as it might be for some people to believe, it’s not difficult to put on 5 stone or more without really noticing.

Because in order to notice, we need to have a connection to our bodies. And this is what people whose eating is emotion-driven typically lack.

For a very good reason.

Feelings.

Or, more accurately, because we experience feelings in our bodies.

At some point in our lives, we’ve experienced feelings so challenging they threatened to overwhelm or destroy us.  Something in us said “I can’t handle all that I’m feeling. It’s too much. I can’t cope. I need a way out”. It’s then that we disconnect and turn to food to help us detach.

In essence, it’s our very senses we’re attempting to escape from.

It can be a big thing like trauma or an accumulation of negative experiences that makes us disconnect, but it happens. In order to survive emotionally, we have no choice but to cut ourselves off not only from our feelings but the receptacle for those feelings – our bodies.

But Elizabeth Behnke is right – there’s an enormous amount of wisdom in our bodies. A vital part of recovering from emotion-driven overeating is feeling safe enough to reconnect, to allow ourselves to feel again, to find the courage to inhabit our bodies once more.

And it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been away.

Like a faithful pet waiting patiently for their owner’s return, our bodies wait for our arrival.When we do reconnect, there’s no prejudice, bitterness or resentment.

They’re just happy we’ve made the journey and come back our senses.

©️ Julie de Rohan 2019.

Published by Julie de Rohan, eatonomy®

A binge eating disorder specialist therapist helping people struggling with compulsive eating, emotional eating and binge eating.

22 thoughts on “Food for Thought: Coming to Our Senses”

  1. I’m guilty of asking these questions but not as criticizing or gloating just wondering how they can accept that, mostly for health wise but glad you provided this explanation! The disconnection…and loved how you put is as a faithful dog waiting for the owner return
    Thank you for sharing 👍 have a great evening

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    1. Thanks, Huguette. I know it can seem baffling to people if they don’t struggle with overeating issues, but this is the truth for so many people who do. Great to hear your thoughts as ever, many thanks for you comment.

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  2. I think if we don’t listen to our bodies, they speak louder. And if we still don’t listen, they speak louder still. It is unfortunate that people refuse to listen until they sometimes get to the point of no return.

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  3. Hi Julie, this is a great post. I thought you summed it up beautifully when you said we need to start feeling safe to reconnect. Safety brings trust and trusting our own bodies, not just the experiences of others, is surely the best way forward. Thanks, as always, for sharing your insight, Lxx

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    1. We can feel so unsafe in our own bodies because of negative feelings so safety is such an important part of the recovery process – learning to trust our bodies again is both healing and empowering. I’m still gutted you’ve decided to stop blogging, Lol, but it’s great to hear from you – thank you giving us your thoughts.

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  4. Thank you for sharing!.. for the answers one needs to listen to ones heart… 🙂 as I have said before, “It is not easy to find happiness within ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” Agnes Repplier

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  5. “…our bodies wait for our arrival”. This is such a beautiful way to put it, and a timely post as I was thinking about this just the other day, the connection (or lack thereof) with our bodies, of listening to them, how it ties in with self-compassion and being present, etc. Wonderful post, Julie.xx

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  7. I’ve been taught to believe that my body is a temple. Yes. Loaded thoughts there. It houses my soul and is a vessel for my life. Had a few hits and misses but self realization and self respect and a better handle on emotional eating has put me in a better place.
    Loved the post Julie.

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    1. It’s so good to hear you’re in a better place, thanks to your own self-reflection and self-development – that’s such a hopeful message to anyone reading who’s struggling with these issues. So pleased you liked the post, Kavitha, lovely to hear from you.

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      2. I really appreciate your comment, Kavitha, and I think I really needed to hear it as I felt very moved when I read it. I don’t know about you, but sometimes a blog can feel like such a lot of work, and it’s nice to know it makes a difference to someone. Thank you.

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      3. Oh Julie, it makes a world of difference. Blogging is hard work, we put our hearts and souls into our posts. Knowing that you made an impact… Now That moves me too.
        These journeys of our lives are made more precious by the people we choose to have in our lives.
        Keep on as you do Julie. We value you. 🌺 🌸 🤗

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      4. Hearts and souls is absolutely right! I know that’s what you put into your blog, too. Thank you for your exceptionally kind words, Kavitha, and I agree it’s the people we choose to have in our lives that make the journey precious. Keep on trucking as well, my friend, and thank you – your thoughtfulness means a great deal to me.

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