If you are like many women, your relationship with food can be complex!
From infancy, food is not only our life sustenance, but it also represents comfort and pleasure. It makes sense that differentiating between food and feelings is challenging for many! And, yet, the cost of not making this distinction can have negative effects on both physical health and self esteem.
We use food in our culture for all kinds of positive, celebratory functions. It’s used as a focal point for families and friends to gather. Consequently, foods can take on special meanings for different individuals. Maybe in your family, Grandma’s homemade noodles came to mean comfort and love for you. Or, maybe it was going out for ice cream with your big sister that brings back a sense of being special. Or, perhaps you were sick your mother brought you soup and gave you special attention. Food represents so much more than mere nourishment for us!
This confusion between food and feelings can lay the foundation for unhealthy relationships with food. Food can then become the ‘go to’ for self soothing, for managing distress, or for mood management.
Dieting can become a discouraging and disheartening, vicious cycle. Some women find they can lose weight, but can’t maintain the weight loss. In fact, commonly, they gain back more than they had lost. In desperation, they try yet another diet, and find themselves back on the same emotional yo-yo of trying to lose and maintain weight loss.
Join Kay Studevant, MA, LMHC and Colleen Hart, ND for a multi-disciplinary perspective to help you gain insight in this battle.
Dr. Hart will be teaching you food basics - such as “What is ‘real’ food?”, “What should I eat/not eat?” and more. She’ll teach you how to eat for a healthy life - with real foods for real life - not a fad diet.
Kay will be leading an exploration into the emotional/psychological components that hinder you from changing your habits. We will look at ideas for changing perspectives about food and it’s purpose. We will do this by teaching you to identify the feelings that are being ‘pushed down’ by food, as well as mindfulness exercises to her you manage those feelings. There will be weekly assignments to implement and integrate your new skills.
We will be meeting on four Sat mornings through the month of Feb 2017. Call today to reserve your seat! 253-334-7715
