I thought I already knew a lot about how to avoid emotional overeating and what I was suppose to do. And so, I must admit it took some time for me to pick up this book. But, here in black and white, the book Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food by Arlene B. Englander, showed me that I still had much to learn. In her book, Arlene gives tricks and tools on how to be a better eater and love your food again.
You might be thinking like me that this is not for you. But, I found so many new ways in which I can improve how I handle eating. Why do I pack my face full until I can’t take anymore? What feelings am I pushing down or not taking control? Why is it that crappy food is the go to “feel better” thing to do rather than healthy food?
It’s funny because I thought I was fairly in control. I pride myself on being a healthy eater, avid exerciser and joyful person. When I started to use some of the techniques in this book, and take the time to really focus, I realized I was not in as much control as I thought. I was using food to mask feelings or just plain escape. I literally made some kind of a bad food choice EVERYDAY!
Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food gives many examples of personal accounts and stories in which we can all relate. It teaches awareness, building techniques that are doable if you are willing to put in the work. This was yet another area I found I struggled. More work? Who really wants to pay attention to eating? You need to eat to live, right? Well, for lots of us we live to eat. The work is constant, it requires you to be on duty all the time. Paying close attention to each meal, each snack, how much, how little and even how bad. That is work. Well friends, if you need to lose weight or want to be healthier you have to do the work. Plain and simple.
You have to truly learn to “love your food” and savor your meals. This book offers ways to achieve this. I learned so much about myself and the patterns that need to be broken. I will work on this because I want to be healthy for my family and myself.
This book is not about dieting, it is about making a life choice. A line I love in this book is “If letting go of diets and the dieting mentality is scary to you, it’s possible your belief in this myth is contributing to your concern.” I think I have tried every diet, always trying the next new thing. What if I let go of that? Could I just be healthy or do I need that diet to be healthy? If I need that diet, then its actually controlling me.
I recommend this book if you need to make some healthy changes and need a guide to do so. I will leave you with another line from this book – “Making small changes to your eating patterns, ones you can build on slowly over time, is truly the best pathway to lasting weight loss.” You can control you!
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