Food Holds Emotion

Food holds emotion.

Discussions of food and eating often lead to tears. Clients sometimes feel needlessly embarrassed by their strong emotions, but they are certainly not alone in their feelings. My office is stocked with boxes of tissues for this very reason.

You are not alone if you feel emotional about: .
- the time, energy, and money dieting has taken from you
-the experiences you had growing up with food rules
-the bullying you received by family, friends or yourself because of your eating practices or body size
-the food and body shame you have received from clinicians .
-the foods you can’t eat due to allergies or other health conditions
-the struggles and fears to eat certain foods due to an eating disorder
-memories of food insecurity that affect your relationship with food today
-your parental struggles with a chaotic family mealtime
-kids with selective food preferences .
-children who don’t eat the way you imagine they should due to medical conditions, developmental delays, tube feeding or preferences.

In addition, tears of joy are shed when a challenge has been overcome, new foods are accepted, when traumatic food and body experiences are worked through, and when diet culture gets successfully rejected.

What feelings do food and eating bring about for you?