Most people will admit that they enjoy eating, but one thing that no one enjoys is that awful feeling that follows overeating. Chances are, you have felt that feeling before when you ate too much, went in for seconds when you didn’t really need them, or found yourself eating junk food out of sheer boredom.
For many people, this feeling is one of self-hate and self-deprecation. You may find yourself getting angry that you chose to eat/overeat and getting mad about what you chose to eat. In this way, what you eat can really change your self-image and negatively impact how you feel about yourself.
But, on the other end of the spectrum, did you know that how you feel about yourself can have a direct impact on what you end up feeding yourself?
Many people who dislike their bodies will go to extreme lengths to try and slim down and lose weight. Usually, that throws them into a dangerous spiral of starving themselves and then inevitably binge eating when they finally break under the massive hunger, or when they find themselves frustrated that they didn’t lose as much weight as quickly as they had hoped to.
However, similarly to the above, disliking your body can also lead to a direct bout of overeating that only throws you into a fast downward spiral. If you have ever looked in the mirror and felt bad about what you saw, this may have led to feelings of depression, worthlessness, or some other negative emotion. Oftentimes, we turn to food when we are met with those negative emotions.
But, when the more you find yourself eating to comfort yourself, the more likely you are to get those feelings of self-doubt, self-hatred, and lack of self-control. This cycle continues as you keep feeling worse and worse about your body, and then turn to food as a primary comfort source for your negative emotions. It sounds counterintuitive because it is.
With that said, it’s a very detrimental cycle that many people find themselves in. The key to breaking it isn’t to address your diet–although that needs to happen eventually–the first step is to actually address your self-image and work to build up your self-love, self-control, and your appreciation for your body, life, and the things around you. With that self-respect, you’ll finally be able to address your eating habits, but it has to come from within first.
