Are you an unconscious eater? We’ve likely all done it at one point or another. It’s when you eat mindlessly, whether in front of the TV or on the go, and especially to cope with challenging emotions like stress, sadness, uncertainty, frustration, or anxiousness. Sound familiar?
Sometimes, unconscious eating happens when we aren’t even hungry.
It’s becomes an automatic response to cope, keep busy, or crunch our way through a tough situation or challenging moment.
Understandably, we might unconsciously eat at times to get the fuel we need during a busy day, but problems arise when we do it too often or to cope with emotions or trauma that we’d rather suppress with food.
ACEs—Adverse Childhood Experiences—can impact our unconscious eating habits without us even realizing it.
When unaddressed, ACEs create toxic, chronic stress in the body that causes overactivity in the brain, impacting cognitive and physiological function, the immune system, behavior, and more. Unfortunately, this state becomes normalized because it has been a part of life for so long.
Therefore, when unhealthy, unconscious eating behaviors develop and we experience the resulting weight gain, it can be hard to identify why.
If you suffer from unconscious eating, your ACEs may be impacting your ability to lose weight. Unfortunately, a run-of-the-mill diet or exercise program won’t work because it doesn’t address the WHY behind your unconscious eating patterns in the first place. Instead, they just attempt to provide a solution to the symptom—weight gain.
Unconscious eating is common in people who struggle with their weight. The food acts as a temporary off switch for undesirable emotions, and the underlying trauma can go unresolved for decades (or even a lifetime) because the habit is unconscious.
In the meantime, people may think they’re simply destined to be unhealthy, unhappy, and overweight, so they give up on finding a solution at all.
But now, there is one.
Dr. Felitti (left), Dr. Ray (right)
Dr. Vincent Felitti, the Co-Principal Investigator of the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, and I teamed up with Relish Life to offer a comprehensive weight loss program that integrates the science of ACEs, teaches conscious eating behaviors, and offers a root-cause approach that combines the best of psychology, behavioral health, holistic wellness, fitness, nutrition, medication, technology, and more.
Dr. Felitti is an advisor for Relish Life and I’m the Chief Behavioral Officer. Dr. Al Ray, who worked intimately with the ACE Study for over two decades at Kaiser Permanente, is Relish Life’s Chief Medical Officer.
It’s easy to fall into unconscious eating behaviors in today’s world. After all, we’re constantly in front of screens, busy, and more stressed than ever. Add in a high ACE score, and the quest for a happy and healthy life can feel like a constant uphill battle. Enter Relish Life.
Relish Life solves the root neurological and physiological issues that cause unconscious eating using a personalized, enjoyable, and sustainable approach.
The program includes:
- An initial call with a telehealth doctor
- Unlimited access to a dedicated doctor and monthly check-ins
- An automatically delivered personalized medication plan
- An initial membership 1:1 orientation and personal strategy session with a health coach
- Unlimited email access and weekly check-ins with a health coach
- Weekly small group counseling and mindfulness sessions
- Daily inspiration, meditations, tips, and tools from Elisa, a friendly chatbot
- Access to a members-only educational portal with a resource library full of mindfulness, hypnotherapy, fitness, and nutrition programs
- A mobile app for even more access to the treatment team and resources (coming soon!)
If you struggle to keep a healthy weight and find that you often engage in unconscious eating habits, I encourage you to look deeper.
Is there a reason you shift into an unconscious state when you overeat or reach for that snack or sweet?
Does it happen when a particular feeling comes up or at a specific time?
Turn to your ACE score to find the inner weight—the heavy, unresolved traumas—that could be leading you to “switch off” and use food to cope.
If you struggle with your weight, Relish Life can help. Click here and be sure to use code “PACES25” for a special discount at checkout.
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