From 100 MORE Days of Weight Loss, Day 44
You may be surprised at what pops to mind when you look for the memories that hook you with your favorite food.
Food tracing will often reveal thoughts of better days when your needs for comfort, nurturing and happiness were met.
Here are my answers to the three questions at the end of the lesson.
1. Choose a favorite food and write down times when you seem to crave it a lot.
Most of you know about my problem with cookies. I don’t necessarily crave them, but at random times will start thinking about my favorite ones from a bakery in town.
2. Close your eyes and mentally track backward to your earliest memories of eating this food. Describe the scene, then add the emotions you were feeling at that time.
Here are the details from my food tracing with cookies:
At my small country school in rural South Dakota, I struggled a lot with feeling awkward and not fitting in with the other kids. On cold, snowy days, I remember coming home to freshly baked cookies cooling on the kitchen table. My brother and I would drink glasses of milk and eat half a dozen cookies. Mom liked to bake, so she was usually very cheerful on those days. Sitting in that cozy kitchen made me feel warm, nurtured, and most of all, very safe.
3. Connect those emotions or needs to present times when you crave this food. Record your insights as well as some non-food ways to take care of these needs.
I’ve learned that when I start craving cookies, I’m usually feeling anxious or uneasy about something such as my work or other people’s expectations. Eating cookies makes me feel confident, secure and emotionally safe.
I need to do a better job of reminding myself that I don’t need cookies to feel safe. I am strong and capable in my work and my life, even when I don’t feel like it.