The thing about food…

So our bodies, these amazing gorgeous vessels, hold everything. Everything. All our stuff. Really. Like, all of it.

When we are sad and don’t tell anyone, that sadness gets stored in our bodies. When we are angry and don’t communicate, that anger gets stored in our bodies. When we have scary and uncomfortable experiences… you guessed it, that fear hangs out in our bodies.

We end up with all of these emotions in our bodies that are filling us to the rim and are truly overwhelming to even think about. Like the closet you keep promising to clean out, but it’s just way too huge a task to even start, so you don’t, and then it just keeps getting more and more out of control and you become less and less likely to tackle it. Ya, this is like that.

Instead of taking on the massive and sometimes painful task of cleaning out our bodies, sharing our feelings and being…wait for it… vulnerable, SO many amazing beings just push it all away and cover it all up. It’s a good trick actually, it’s called denial.

For an unbelievable number of people, the cover-up of choice is food. The thing about food for so many amazing people is that it’s the perfect solid, dense, thick nothing-is-getting-past-this-sucker cover up. First, we push all the emotions and experiences that we aren’t ready to release, we don’t want to talk about, and we don’t want to admit down into the depths of our bodies. Then we throw a bunch of food that we likely aren’t physically hungry for on top of them. Then, we win. ‘Cause the only feeling we have accessible is fullness. “I feel full.” No need to deal with any of the other feelings because fullness is here to save the day! Ya, you bet you’re full-of everything other than food in the first place. Congratulations. Denial and suppression of your amazing perfect human feeling self…accomplished.

Oh, an important point… this doesn’t just relate to those of you out there who have sadness, hurt, and anger. It’s also for those of you who have unachieved potential, unmet self confidence, unaccomplished goals, etc. When we suppress anything, whether it’s a horrible trauma, a crappy break up, or an amazing part of ourselves that we haven’t yet introduced to the world….we get full. And for human beings, it’s way easier to be full of food, than of feelings.

Here is the big announcement my loves… the food doesn’t make the feelings go away, it just tricks you into thinking they have. I’m not saying never again down a pint of double chocolate chunk after a royally crappy day… I’m just asking you to think about it.

Love love love,