INVERTED FEEDING ©

Feeling less and eating MORE or less … 

Instinctive feeding has almost become a lost art in the western world. Feeding ourselves is more than swallowing food. Feeding is eating with every aspect of our being: the physical, rational, spiritual and emotional. Food is used in rites of passage, it is a way of nurturing, it can have romantic entanglements, it reflects our values and it can be a form of learning. Food also has huge political associations. It is directly linked to caring for our selves, our communities, our neighbours and, in fact, the globe.

Instinctive feeding is our natural state. We are born aware of our need for nourishment and act on that need. There is comfort with eating as well as from eating. Time is preciously taken to enjoy feeding our selves and food finds a natural place in our life.

The opposite of that gracefully aligned instinctive state is an inverted relationship with food. For far too many of us, eating and feeding take priority over a big chunk of our lives. Inverted feeders use food for internal nourishment that goes beyond any physical, spiritual or social motives.

Everyone eats or uses food in an unconscious way now and then – men as well as women. At times, all of us in the developed world can be triggered eaters. Cereal art can make some of us feel hungry. Being happy, sad, bored, lonely, frustrated or anxious might move us to eat because it fills a space larger than our stomachs.


How do we know if we have become inverted feeders?

Our behaviour may include:

  • Thinking about food often
  • Eating frequently when not hungry in private
  • Splurge or trigger eating large proportions of unhealthy food items
  • Trying not to eat when hungry or having rules about when and how
    much to eat
  • Eating late at night
  • Feeling frantic and even out of control when eating
  • Skipping meals and feeding sporadically or irregularly
  • Concocting weight loss attempts by controlling portions and food
    groups
  • Turning to food during times of stress or to chill
  • Continuing to eat - even when full
  • Feeling guilty after feeding ourselves

A Starting Point is Identifying Our Own Eating/Feeding Prompts

INTERNAL Prompts: Feeding in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger naturally comes from completed digestion, from having skipped meals or from eating to cure headaches or other pains.

EXTERNAL Prompts: Feeding because the opportunity is there. For example, at the movies, smelling popcorn; passing by a vending machine; seeing a food advert on TV may cause us to feel peckish. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as sitting at the computer or in front of the TV. We are more vulnerable when we haven’t eaten regularly.

SOCIAL Prompts: Feeding when around other people. Eating at social celebrations like Thanksgiving, potlucks or even coffee breaks with friends is part of our culture. There is nothing wrong with this type of eating. A problem may arise if we do NOT allow ourselves to eat socially.

EMOTIONAL Prompts: Feeding in response to feelings. Boredom, stress, fatigue, depression, anger, anxiety or loneliness can prompt feeding as a way to fill a void or to escape facing stressors.

By identifying what triggers our food swings and inverted feeding, we can succeed in letting go of the strong call of food. By dealing with the underlying emotions that have been protected and by re-establishing a conscious relationship with our bodies and our feeding, we can gently practice substituting more appropriate habits and approaches to take food and weight gain out of the equation.


FOOD SWINGS: A User's Guide for Dealing with the Call of Food offers EIGHT strategies to cut loose from our inverted feeding habits.

The really great news is that you CAN be liberated from your inverted feeding.

If you're ready to make some simple yet profound changes in your relationship with food, please call Dania today at 604-740-6403 or email food.swings@the-art-of-eating.com to book a FREE initial consultation.

 

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games.
26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

~ Michael Jordan