Emotional and Disordered Eating
Which of these feels like your experience:
- Restrict your eating then overeat or binge
- More focused on your size and shape than any other aspect of yourself
- A history of extremes- lose a bunch of weight, gain a bunch of weight
- A health issue that would be eased if you lost weight but you cannot get started or maintain healthy eating
- Feeling very unaware of your body- your feelings, if you are hungry, etc.
- Eating when you are stressed, lonely, angry or sad helps you to feel better
- Very critical of yourself in many areas of your life including your weight
- Food often feels like the only enjoyable part of life
- Being judged and criticized for your weight by those close to you

“Many eating problems aren’t really about food. They are about self-soothing.” (Susan Albers)
Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy AND Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Create Lasting Change and Healthy Vitality
Understand how your emotions and your relationship with yourself impacts your eating and unhelpful ways of coping. Heal the unresolved emotions and start to meet your emotional needs in new ways. Learn to tune into yourself and to regulate your emotions. Understand what your triggers are and new ways to respond to them. Often we start working on other issues such as dealing with stress or improving your relationships before we begin focusing on weight loss so that you feel strong and ready to make lifestyle changes. And often, there is unresolved childhood or relational trauma that needs to be processed and healed before you will be strong and ready to address your weight.
Then we can learn the Cognitive Behavioral skills to lose weight and maintain it:
- Plan and monitor your eating
- Stay motivated
- Create time and energy for healthy eating and lifestyle
- Get back on track if you overeat
- Combat all or nothing thinking
- Stop sabotaging yourself
- Create healthy habits for life!
Cognitive therapy has been shown to be highly effective in helping to create lasting, healthy habits. Betsy has attended a Beck Diet Solution Workshop, this coaching is based on the Beck Diet Solution, with permission. She is also a Certified Weight Loss Specialist through the National Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists.