EC193: The Junk Food Anaesthetic

The Eating Coach

The Eating Coach is back with a series of short 5-6 min episode for your pleasure during the month of July. Today: How junk food is an anaesthetic (as well as being damn hard to spell!).

Check out the Facebook group where I will be posting more content. https://www.facebook.com/groups/eatingcoachgroup

Many people understand that emotional eating is trying to do the job of managing life, a bit like a sticking plaster or band aid.

But what I have realised is that it serves a much more subtle and invisibly powerful function - that of an anaesthetic.

If you've ever come down from any kind of high (be it from food or overstimulation) and used a takeaway to fill that emotional gap - you are using food as an anaesthetic.

If you binge because you are dreading the meeting with person X - you are using food as an anaesthetic.

If you use sugar as dutch courage before an interview in the same way alcoholics nip into the pub - you are using food as an anaesthetic.

The question is - does the anaesthetic ever work? If it did, then you would have renewed vigour, boss that meeting and ace the interview - you would be more confident with the help of food.

Of course not.

No anaesthetic can ever do more than a temporary job. That's what they are meant for. Great for dental work, rotten for emotional eating.

So the question to ask yourself before you anaesthetise yourself via the deli aisle is this:

Is it worth it?

The Eating Coach podcast is back and in this episode I have two more questions you can ask to alienate yourself from that anaesthetic.

Cheers now!

Next episode out within the next few days

Harriet Morris

info (at) theshiftinside dot com