Emotional Eating – What Are You Truly Hungry For? | Ep.23

This show is about freedom. Freedom from your constant struggle with food and letting the size of your thighs determine your worth. Join me weekly for no whole fat, unfiltered girlfriend kind of conversations that will inspire, teach and empower you. As we tune into our own body's wisdom and tune out of the diet industry lives, we can live our most radiant, pleasurable and fulfilled lives. My name is Chanci Dawn. I'm a non diet nutritionist embodiment and mindset coach. But most importantly, I'm a woman on a mission to grow a deeply connected and conscious relationship with food and my body. And I'm here inviting you to do the same. Let's go.

Hello, my friend. Welcome to today's show. So I was thinking about like the greeting, quite often I'll say hello, my friend, or Hello love. Because I really do feel like you as my listener, that we are having this great conversation together about things that really matter. But also, there's many of you who are listening that I don't know, I don't, I've never met you, I don't know who you are. And I don't know that you're listening. So please, let's actually be friends. Connect with me. If we're not already connected on Instagram, please, let's do that. And drop message me introduce yourself. I want to know who you are. And I want to know what you need most right? What do you struggle with what's coming up for you? Please let me know this because I want this podcast to serve you on such a deep level. So if we can truly get to know each other, and you can ask me your questions, I can come on here and answer them, which I think is so fun. So let's get to know each other. Instagram DM me, see you there. Okie dokie. So before we really dive into the topic today, I want to start by dropping into our bodies and asking our bodies a really simple, yet very profound and very, very vital question. Okay, so if it's safe for you to do so, if you're in a space where you can, let's just stop what you're doing. And if you're sitting, I invite you to really sink into your chair. And if you're walking, you're standing, feel the ground below, you just allow your body to be heavy. We just want to be supported here. So let's draw our attention to our left sit bone or our left foot. Just sink into it further feeling that support below. And then your right sit bone or right foot. Let's draw tension here with hand on the heart. And the other one your womb space. And if you don't have a womb, that's totally okay. You still have a womb space. So far with our hands here. Let's drop this question into our body. What Am I really hungry for? We're not talking about food here. We're talking about the deep yearnings of your soul. What are you hungry for my friend? What do you need? What do you desire? So with this, just let this bubble up. We're not going to go searching for an answer. Just allow what's there to be there with no judgment. And if nothing comes out for you, that's absolutely okay. There's no wrong here. But with that, let's get into curiosity. And take this curiosity forward into this entire episode. Staying really connected with that like deeper hunger that is there for all of us and our bodies do want to show it to us. Hmm. For me, it's a dog right now. I'm actually going to go see this dog that needs re homing today after my son gets home from school and I'm so excited my dog Barkley died seven months ago and my goodness, do we ever miss her and we haven't been ready for a pup yet but our hearts are all are all feeling ready for it. And we've mourned and processed a lot and this little one has come available. So we will see maybe next episode you're going to hear puppy barks in the background. It will be fun. So yes, that's what I'm longing for some puppy love and really ready for that though. Snuggles. and cuddles and licks and super pumped for that. So what are you longing for?

Today we're going to be talking about emotional eating. Okay, and I really wanted to start this whole episode tuning into what our bodies are really, really hungry for what you really crave what you really desire. Because my friend, that is what's on the bottom, that is what actually emotional eating is all about. But in our culture that is so infiltrated with the lies of diet, culture and fat phobia, we really miss the mark, we really miss the opportunity that emotional eating presents to us because it's so wrapped up in shame and judgment. Right? There's this, there's this message, that the worst thing, the worst possible thing you can do is gain weight, right. And so if you're not eating for fuel, you're eating for emotional reasons. And let's not do that distract ourselves or, you know, you willpower, self control all of these things that really don't work. And then what happens is that not only are you not actually feeling the emotions coming up for you, that all the things that yearning, the stuff you really, really desire and need those things you're truly hungry for. You're distracting yourself, you're burying this down. And this often is a huge reason why we binge eat, right, we call that storm eat here in the embodied eating realm. So we want to just really become aware of this and interrupt this, because my friend you deserve so much better. You are not put on this earth to try to self control and willpower yourself, then you are put on this earth to pay attention to your soul's calling and to honor her. And that's what we want to do. That's why embodied eating is so important. That's why the program I have it tastes like freedom is so vital to us because it gives us our lives back. So when we're looking at this, instead of going, No, no, no, I'm going to willpower, I'm going to self control, I'm not going to do this right? Instead, what people do, then it's like, Screw it, I don't have willpower ISEC I'm just going to eat my feelings away. But it doesn't actually work. Because that yearning, that deeper hunger, that deeper longing that you have, or those painful feelings that really need to be moved in process and felt in order to be able to like, be free, so that we can heal, they get stuck as well. So, you know, ignoring this, and distracting and using willpower doesn't work. And emotional eating also doesn't work. Right. So what we want to do is we want to look at this and we want to like part the waves to really look deep into what is actually happening here. So if you are someone who emotionally eats, first thing we want to do is we want to just honey coat you in compassion. Remember, that's pillar one of embodied eating, honey coated compassion, my friend, nothing has gone wrong. Nothing at all. From a little tiny, wee baby you were taught you were conditioned to know that food equals comfort, and warmth and security and love. Either you were you know, being cradled by your caregiver like having your mama's milk, or maybe you're having formula in a bottle, but you were being held and nourished and nurtured when you were doing this. So of course, of course you are drawn to food for comfort. Of course you are. So let's just take any sort of ridiculous shame and stigma and throw it away. That does not serve you instead let's look at it compassionately. Because when we can, what we can do is when we hunico Compassion, it absolutely erases that shame. And then when that shame is gone, then we can dive in with curiosity, getting really really curious asking these questions like we just did. And then because there's no shame our body feels safe to show us. And then the more we honor her the more we feel the more we process the more we move towards our truth. The more she will speak to us the louder she will get these cues will be so evident. It's amazing. And you absolutely deserve this. You deserve this beautiful relationship with this with your body and this freedom that it offers. This is yours. Bye birthright, it is yours. So let's take it. Okay? Ha, I just love this. So every single emotion shows up as a vibration as a sensation in our bodies. So when we really look at hunger, there's two different types of hunger. One is physical hunger where your body needs fuel. And the other one is emotional hunger. They're both real. And they're both valid. But we experience them in different ways. Yet our brain thinks it's the same, it thinks, oh, we just need food. Okay? So physical hunger starts in our stomach, it's a cue, right? That our stomach is like, oh, it's empty, we need fuel. And then it sends this message up to our brain. And then our brain triggers us in our hunger cues that we've talked about before to go, Oh, I'm hungry, I need to eat. So that's physical hunger. But emotional hunger actually starts in our brain. Right? So remember, every single sensation, which is a feeling is actually created by thoughts that we think. So it started in our brain, and then it moves down into our body as this sensation. And then it's this hunger that we have to dull it, if it's uncomfortable, or if we don't think it's there for us to have, right? If we don't have that capacity to receive these deeper yearnings that we have, we will doll it with food, or perhaps it's something else, perhaps it's perhaps your go to is wine or shopping, or sex or exercising or reading all the diet books, right? Whatever it is, you know, right? It's what you ever what you go to, to distract yourself from what's really going on. So we want to, again, honey, coke, compassion, this, honor it get curious. And ask ourselves, How am I feeling right now? So when you're going to food for distraction or comfort, right, stop. And this is the opportunity for you to just be like, all body? How do you feel? Tune into the sensations? See if you can name them, right? See if you could describe it to yourself. So is this sensation in my body fast? Or slow? Is it heavy? Or light? Okay, does it have a color? Is it moving by sad, fast or slow? But yes? Is it moving? Is it thick or thin? Asking yourself these questions is a really cool way to be able to get deep down into the sensations and start to really pay attention to them. And more and more, the more and more you do this, the easier it's going to get and it's just become second nature. So that's the first step. How do I feel right now? And then move on to go okay, I'm feeling this right now. My body's not loved, or my brains not loving this, right? My brain wants to eat this away. But instead, I'm going to notice it. And then I'm going to ask, How do I want to feel? Okay, so you're feeling this and you want to feel this way, this is where you're wanting to move towards. And the trick to this is that we can actually only move out of any motion when we move through it. So you have to feel it. We have to feel it to get to the other side. So then we can then start feeling how we want to hear. So this question, how do I want to feel? Another question of follow up is like, what do I need? And this is that deeper hunger? I'm talking about? What am I actually hungry for here? And why? Okay, really, really? They sound like a simple question. But they're so important. And so like I said, In the beginning, very, very profound. And You totally deserve to honor yourself by asking these and then getting the support that you need to be able to move through and process these emotions that are really hard to feel sometimes. And then to be able to truly honor yourself, and create the life and the experiences and live all of these desires that are here for you.

So when we're looking at this one thing that's really really important to understand as well, is that our brains will really want us to emotionally eat quite often because what's below these, this, what's below this and what's in our body and all these sensations can be really hard to actually feel this is that pain. So no matter who you are, no matter if you're a human, you are going to feel 50% positive emotions right that we experience is positive and 50% hard to feel once again There's no way around this, we are going we are complex beings and all emotions are welcome. And all emotions are necessary. But because our society teaches us right, this toxic positivity, we always have to be happy. This is the goal. Yes, we want to be happy, I love being happy. But actually, the beauty of it is feeling it all, this is the whole human emotion, this is the whole spectrum of it. And when we feel the really hard when we grow our capacity to feel that pain and to move through it, the beautiful thing is on the other side, we actually grow our capacity to feel the good. And that is such a gift that emotions give us and that is available to you. But when we dampen them, when we distract them with food, with emotional eating, or with whatever, whatever else you distract with, it really narrows, it narrows your capacity to feel. And we can walk through life feeling pretty disconnected and numb and really unfulfilled, right when we're in that space. So my invitation to you is to feel it all. And again, this is what we do in the it tastes like freedom program. As a community, we all gather together and we're supporting each other in this, the things will come up you have other women to be able to link arms with and talk to about this, everyone has the same goal. So that is just the most beautiful, fun thing. So a little pitch for that if you are interested in joining the next round of it tastes like freedom, contact me. Okay, you can you can email me at Freedom at Chauncey dawn.com. Or just go to my DMs and Instagram and we will set up a time to talk. Okay, okay, back to the show. I needed actually to do a little like, Intro thing, or outro and have some fancy music for that. But I didn't. So there's my little pitch. Okay, so we're feeling it all girls, this is the goal here. And with this, when you feel it all, it grows your capacity. And this is where the beauty and that juicy life that you desire is waiting for you. Okay? Now, let's get real. And in this, like, I just want to say that there's going to be times where you just do not feel like you have what it takes at that moment to truly feel what's going on, or to even move towards the juicy emotions that your body is craving, right? When you drop, and you're like, What am I actually needing, and it's like, this is what you this is what you actually want. You're like, oh my gosh, I just can't even do this right now. So life is life. And we're not always going to be walking around feeling like ready or equipped, or supported properly in order to be able to honor ourselves in this way. So what I want to say here is going to surprise you. But this is the total truth of it. And this is also where freedom lies. That if this is the scene if you're like going towards the pantry, because you're feeling any emotion that's hard to feel, or something's coming up for you. And you realize this is what it is. And you're like, I just can't then my friend go ahead and emotionally eat. It is not morally wrong to do so. diet culture will totally have you convinced it is because they suck and they're full of lies and want to sell you all programs, right? But no, it's not. Just like I said in the beginning, we are conditioned from day one, right to to correlate food with comfort. So it's Okay sweetheart, if this is something that you choose to do. But what I want for you right now is to, we want to lift the veil and we want to really look at this and go, if I'm going to choose to emotionally eat right now, I'm going to do it fully empowered, because this is a decision I'm making, and I'm liking my reasons for this decision. Now this is really, really important. Because if you're going and you're emotionally eating, and there's shame involved, or you have this like backside like ooh, you know, you shouldn't be doing this all these shoulds this judgment you have for yourself. This is what will spiral you down the rabbit hole which will most likely lead to a binge or to like screw it. I can't do the same body eating thing and I have to go on a diet. Right so the freedom in this is to give yourself genuine permission to emotionally eat if that's what you're choosing to do genuine permission. Remember we've talked about This before genuine permission feels slow, it feels solid, right? It's nourishing, it's warm. This is not something that you're like, Okay, I'm gonna go do and you feel like you have to go hide and do it. No shame is not invited to this Freedom Party. Not at all. Empower yourself with decisions that you make with intention, whether you're going to move towards you know that your ultimate hunger, and feel these emotions and process it and heal these wounds, and move through the trauma that you're might be holding in your body. Right? All of this stuff here is beautiful and available to you. And this is where huge freedom lies. And also emotionally eating here is available to you. And if you choose it with intention and compassion for yourself, absolutely, freedom can lie in there as well. But what we don't want to do is spiral down. So without the shame without the judgment, just in the freedom, this is what I'm going to do you emotionally and then you stop there. It doesn't carry on to the next day, you don't have to fast yourself, you know, a way because you emotionally at eight the night before, it doesn't lead into a crazy storm eating binge. It's just what it is. And then it's done. And then you move forward. And you promise yourself, to feel the feelings to process the emotions to get the support, you need to move towards that healing, to move towards these ultimate beautiful desires that are yours for the taking. When you're ready.

Okay, this is honoring you. This is really, really that deeper love that deeper permission for it all permission for freedom. It is here for you. And I'm here to support you through it. Keep connected to me through this podcast connected on Instagram. And like I said if you're ready to go deeper and actually apply what you're learning here contact me because the program the next startup for it tastes like freedom group program is going to happen soon. I haven't narrowed down in exact date, but it's coming soon, my friends. So if you want in, let's get connected. And also share this episode with someone you love. Who you know needs to hear it. Thank you so much. I love you can't wait for next episode actually, I'm going to be sharing a deeper tool in how to actually do some of this feeling stuff. Okay, so we're going to talk about that next week. So tune in the tool for that sparkly toolbox that we're creating together. You are awesome. Have a beautiful rest of your day. Take care.