HOW to serve Clients with Emotional Eating…With 8 Simple Steps!
Negative self-talk can literally keep someone STUCK in emotional and compulsive eating…and in a depressive or anxious state!….and it attacks all of us at some point. Not only that, it is the number one reason your clients can't MAINTAIN weight loss and health efforts that you spend hours guiding them through! The road to real FREEDOM with food is one of self-discovery. When someone is struggling with keeping up with healthy habits, they are likely dealing with cognitive skeletons in the closet.
Professional Coaches use this proven system because it is based on empirical evidence, and it works! If your clients are struggling with emotional eating, they have some "thought" that is getting in their way! In the same way I will outline below, you can guide your clients to freedom, having them SEE their distorted thinking and BREAK FREE of the behaviours that come along with that!
Do any of these beliefs sound familiar?…
Can I really do this?
I’m not disciplined enough?
What if I’m too weak?
Nothing ever works?
I have tried everything and I always go back to emotional eating?
What if I don’t have what it takes to persist?
What if I’m just "addicted " to food?
Im a failure?
On and on…
Here’s the thing colleagues…even if some of these thoughts have a grain of truth in them, it’s the repetitive nature of the thought and its corresponding behavior that really stops anyone from breaking free of old patterns.
I know when I was stuck in my negative food patterns, I literally had negative self-talk hundreds of times a day!
So, it’s time to get real. If you want to truly SERVE people with a lifestyle of health and happiness, you’re going to have to deal with the negative self-talk that comes up. They MUST face it..or they will ALWAYS fall back into old patterns….
So Im going to show you HOW….Right here and now. Our Professional Cognitive Program for coaches goes intimately into this work. Hundreds of health professionals are now using it in their practice and having SUCCESS with clients..not for a week or a month- but LONG term success- years of freedom! Testimonials from this kind of work are like no other- and it feels GOOD to help shift someone life RADICALLY! This is not about "Psychology"..its not enough to KNOW what the negative thoughts are..there must be a behavioural change in order for ling term healing to happen.
For more on how to USE this work with clients, I am offering our Professional Coaching Program at discount, one FINAL time this year ( due to many requests).
It is only open until Dec 13th!
See more here: PROFESSIONAL COGNITIVE COACHING PROGRAM
Now….
Here are 8 simple steps you can use with clients to destroy the negative self-talk so they heal for good and you can enjoy the process!…
If you don’t take this seriously in your practice, and you put off dealing with this demon, you’re going to swim way upstream for a long time. Its too much WORK to hold your clients hands while they continue to fall- and it just doesnt work.
Have your clients…
1. Make a list of all of the negative self-talk. It doesn’t matter if it’s about food or not. List every single one. They may have 10 or they may have 100.
2. Check off all of the beliefs that pertain to food. The key here is to not overthink this. If they have a belief that they suck, it’s likely going to play out in some way in relation to emotional eating.
3. Create a spreadsheet and in the first column label it Negative Beliefs. Enter all of the negative beliefs that they checked off in a hierarchical fashion. For instance, if the strongest negative belief is “ I will never be able to lose weight, I will always go back to emotional eating".
And so on…
4. Label the second column: Old Behavior. Starting with your strongest negative belief enter the main behavioral response that results from the belief. If your belief is, " I will never lose weight, I will always go back to emotional eating", behavior might be “ never trying anything different other than the same "quick fix" diet methods that just don't work."
5. Label the third column: New Behaviors. Create a different response. It’s hard to control thoughts. Instead of getting rid of the intrusive thought, “I will never be able to lose weight longterm, I will always go back to emotional eating".” try to imagine new behaviors. Enter alternatives to diet regimes. For instance, “Im ready to deal with what is under my emotional eating (my distorted thinking) so it can be gone for good."
Label the fourth column Deadline.
6. Set a date for the full behavioral change. Stick to it. Make sure when they recognize the self-limiting thought on a day-to-day basis, it’s time to take action with the new behavior. It might seem paradoxical at first, but change doesn’t usually feel comfortable.
7. Label the fifth column: Resolved Self-Talk. Once they have had consistent experiences with changing behavior, enter a new belief that more accurately represents who you are. For instance, change “I will never be able to lose weight for good, I will always go back to emotional eating".,” to “Its possible I will learn how to change my thinking and therefore finally be done with emotional eating".
8. Label the sixth column: Celebrate. Once you’ve resolved a particular negative belief, celebrate in some way. Go to a movie. Go out for a special meal. NURTURE!
With any questions on this process, please don't hesitate to contact me. I look forward to reading your comments below on how this works in your practice! Don't forget to share if this is useful :)