Tag: compulsive eating

Gentle Reminder: Make Movement Joyful Again

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 33 Comments

Exercise.

I can practically feel the groaning and eye rolling.

In preparation for writing this blog post I did a bit of research. I googled some exercise slogans. What I found ranged from the ridiculous – “squat till you puke” (eww) – to the downright offensive, which I won’t repeat here (guys, seriously?).

Many of the so-called “motivational and inspirational” quotes I found conveyed the message that to have the body you’re “supposed” to have, you must punish it into submission.

No wonder the ‘e’ word has such a bad rep.

Continue reading “Gentle Reminder: Make Movement Joyful Again” →

Why Should We Be Ashamed of Our Bodies?

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 40 Comments

You’re sitting in a café having coffee with a friend. Every few minutes you surreptitiously tug at your top so it doesn’t cling to the contour of your stomach.

You receive an invitation to your school reunion. You’d love to go but feel you can’t because you’ve put on weight and you worry about what people will think.

You regularly scan your body in a full-length mirror, thinking “God, look at my thighs/belly/insert other body part here”.  When you’ve examined all your “defects”, you mutter a conclusive “ugh” before walking away from your reflection in disgust.

Continue reading “Why Should We Be Ashamed of Our Bodies?” →

Food for Thought: Coming to Our Senses

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 22 Comments

“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.

Continue reading “Food for Thought: Coming to Our Senses” →

Gentle Reminder: The Discomfort of Comfort

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 18 Comments

You reach for food to soothe yourself, to comfort yourself, to make everything better just for a moment.

But what happens when that moment is over?

The discomfort kicks in.

You feel over-full. You feel sick. You hate yourself.

What was intended to be comforting has to turned into physical and emotional discomfort.

Why have I done this to myself yet again, you ask. Why?

Continue reading “Gentle Reminder: The Discomfort of Comfort” →

Expert Insight: The Self-Care Gender Gap

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 26 Comments

“One gender-related theme that stood out was related to caretaking. Every woman in the study, but none of the men, reported putting others before themselves…

Tina was a compulsive eater who used food as a way to practise self-care. During the second interview, she began to realise how taking care of others led her to eat: “I had no down time. I had no time for myself and I think I was using food more than I had been to take the edge off and medicate myself, reward myself, treat myself”.

– Patricia Goodspeed Grant, “Social and Emotional Origins of Comfort Eating”

Continue reading “Expert Insight: The Self-Care Gender Gap” →

How Do You Prove to Yourself You Care?

~ Julie de Rohan, eatonomy® ~ 26 Comments

Self-care – that old chestnut. Right now, it feels like we can’t move for people telling us we should care about ourselves.

It’s great in theory, but what about in practice?

Many of us yearn for healthy self-esteem. We think “if I lose weight that will make me feel better about myself” but, while it might make us feel better physically, it doesn’t increase how much we care about ourselves.

Continue reading “How Do You Prove to Yourself You Care?” →