End of Season Summary of STRESS & ANXIETY Recovery Podcast Resources
Hi, I’m Shelley Treacher from the Stress and Anxiety Podcast.
Today I want to end on a round-up of what I’ve talked about this year, and how it all fits with unhealthy unwanted habits like overeating. So that you are prepared for January.
I don’t know about you, but I get overwhelmed when I see the number of podcasts produced by some people. So, I hope to reduce your overwhelm and help you find what you need here.
I get a lot of enquiries in January, so I know that many of you will be facing how to tackle your comfort eating. This summary will point you towards where you need to start, in my podcast. You have A LOT of information here.
This podcast also comes with a handout. So, be sure to check out the link in the notes!
But, if you require further help in January, please be in touch. My group fills up fast in January. So, I may be running more than one. Whilst a group may not seem like the obvious place to bare your soul and start facing the shame that you might be feeling around comfort eating, there’s an incredible amount of healing to be had by connecting with others who identify with what you are going through, including that shame and frustration, but also fear.
I’d like to help you beyond that, to a place of comfort and confidence in yourself.
Here’s a summary of this podcast so far
1. The reasons for overeating
The first thing I talked about was the many things that might cause you to overeat or maintain weight. There are a lot of reasons listed here, from biology and genetics to marketing and the availability of food.
My aim here was to start to show you how difficult it is to exert willpower over your eating because there are so many other factors that contribute to weight gain and wanting to overeat.
Are you a comfort eater, emotional eater, or binge eater? How to recognise it
2. How to Recognise emotional eating
I then talked about how overeating may be understood to have uncomfortable feelings or beliefs behind it. With this, I hope to normalise for you that most of us use some substance or another to regulate how we feel.
This forms the basis of the podcast, in that I talk mainly about comfort eating and all the myriad emotional and psychological experiences that might lead to comfort eating, and how to manage them differently.
10 Reasons Why You Might Comfort Eat – 2 Min Byte Podcast
These are the revamped versions of the first podcast in subsequent years:
2022 Why You Comfort Eat – Overeating Explained
2022 Are You An Emotional Eater? Here’s How To Find Out
2023 Updated version – 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Stop Eating
3. The Self-Critic
Podcast 2 was about the self-critic. I talked about this next because I firmly believe the self-critic is responsible for much of the comfort eating that we do.
Here, I also started talking about the inner child in us who responds to the self-critic, with hurt, anger or upset. This is the part of us that feels something uncomfortable, and so tries to manage those feelings with food. This is also the part that insists we must eat. Here, I begin to encourage you to be more compassionate towards yourself. Because this is the key to being able to stop comfort eating.
Blame. Binge. Shame. Repeat – The Self Critic & The Inner Child Behind Comfort Eating
4. Feelings
In most podcasts, I’ve talked about different feelings and experiences that may lie behind overeating. I’ve talked about what they are, how they occur in us, and how they may be understood and worked with.
This is important because we react to our environment and each other all day long. In the context of comfort eating it’s essential to understand how we are affected, and what we feel, so that we may start to get a handle on understanding what we need, and meeting that need.
Expressing ourselves and feeling accepted and understood can also go a long way to healing the hurts behind comfort eating.
Here are some podcasts on specific emotional experiences that you might be dealing with:
Anger, Self-Punishment, and Binge-Eating
Loss Or Grief May Be Behind Comfort Eating
How To Cope With Anniversaries, Occasions And ‘Firsts’ After A Bereavement – 2-minute Podcast byte
Open The Gates To Self-Worth & Change The Core Beliefs That Lead To Comfort Eating
Coping with Covid Christmas, loneliness, and comfort eating
Do You Eat When You’re Bored – Byte Podcast
5. Habits & Cravings
I’ve talked about what a habit is, what a craving is, and the physiological addiction side of comfort eating. These podcasts show some chemistry behind comfort eating and why we are drawn to do it. This is helpful because it’s good to know what you’re dealing with, to make a different choice.
The Secrets to Breaking Habits – How to break the powerful habit of comfort eating
6. Alternative Ways To Manage Feelings
Part of learning to reduce comfort eating involves needing to find other ways to manage how you feel. So, I’ve also produced various podcasts on healthy ways to manage feelings.
This is a vital component in learning to manage life and emotion without comfort food, so you will find techniques in most of my podcasts too. You’ve got to have another satisfactory way of dealing with the uncomfortable experiences that come up if you don’t use food (or any other substance) to soothe them. In these podcasts, you’ll find lots of suggestions for how to start to manage feelings and ways to comfort yourself without food.
How to comfort yourself, without comfort eating – 8 Techniques
Embodiment- The Best Way to Handle Anxiety
Heal Self-Worth Through Embodiment
Lockdown overeating: How can mindful eating help?
7. Compassion
Above all, I’ve encouraged you to be compassionate with yourself in every podcast, because this is a powerful route to choosing to treat yourself well, including what you eat and when. Self-compassion and understanding are key because overeating is often a form of lack of self-compassion and understanding.
Typically, we have been taught to deny, ignore, or be ashamed of our feelings and needs. These podcasts encourage you to understand yourself instead. When you feel understood and accepted, life gets a lot easier, and it’s more likely you will select well for yourself.
For the binge eater who puts everyone else first.
Your relationship with yourself & the role of kindness, with binge-eating
8. Relationship
I’ve talked a lot about relational development, relational trauma, and relational dynamics here. I’ve spoken about how these may influence or trigger comfort eating, and I’ve offered healthy ways to manage these triggers and feelings.
This is a big section and so important because we are affected by each other, and trying to cope with that effect, all the time. Very few of us are born into secure families who teach us how to manage relationships and feelings healthily. So, this subject is complex, endlessly fascinating to me, and always a work in progress!
This is also an area I specialise in working with, particularly with my Calling In The One programme for people who are dissatisfied with being single, or unhappy in a relationship. This programme helps you uncover what’s causing you a problem and sets you on a more authentic path to love and connection.
Turn your childhood low self-worth into healing
Crack your history code – How your relationship history affects your comfort eating
The effect of your upbringing on your comfort eating – How to heal
“I always put other people first” – Binge-Eating & PEOPLE-PLEASING
What comfort seekers need to know about the fear of rejection
What Feeling ‘Triggered’ Actually Means – Defensiveness Explained
Take the stress out of conflict
Ten Ways To Cope With Covid-19 Social Anxiety – 5-minute byte
Why It’s So Difficult To Say ‘No’ To People
Twelve Ways To Say ‘No’ – 2-minute Byte
The Single Comfort Eater – How To Find Love
Signs Of Being In An Abusive Relationship – 3 Min Byte Podcast
“Whenever we get close, one of us pulls away” – FEAR OF DEPENDENCY
How To Repair After Pushing Your Partner Away – AVOIDANCE In Relationship Part 2
Bounce Back from Feeling DISMISSED or Undermined – In 10 Ways
Is Being Self-Concerned Bigheaded, SELFISH, or Narcissistic?
Do you suspect your partner has narcissistic/selfish tendencies?
Need To Let Go of Someone TOXIC? – 10 Exit Strategies
A Guide to Coping with a NEGLECTFUL Partner
9. Trauma
In many podcasts, particularly the ones about your history, I’ve talked about trauma and the body’s fight or flight system. This will help you to understand the physiological states that might cause comfort eating and the state you might be in when you do it.
Where are we now? Emerging from Covid 19 – the impact on our wellbeing
10. Body-Shame
No podcast about the emotional side of comfort eating would be complete without talking about body hatred. This is an experience shared by comfort eaters. So, I have talked about ways to address that too.
Body-Shame – Binge Eating and Body Image
Overcome Body Hatred – 3 Minute Podcast Byte
11. Female Hormones
I’ve even talked about oestrogen and its influence on our comfort eating during perimenopause or menopause.
Why You Can’t Stop Comfort Eating In The Menopause, Perimenopause Or Around Your Menstrual Cycle
12. Covid-19
Of course, I’ve also talked about the effects of this pandemic, which has made a comfort eater out of many of us.
In December, I gave a workshop on coping with or recovering from, the effects of the pandemic. This is something I’ll be doing again in January and beyond. With the shock of Omicron, just as we were beginning to think about feeling safe in our World, things are starting to get to people. So, I’ll be sharing some ways to cope: Watch for updated details of the workshop here.
Recovering from Covid-19 burnout, and Covid comfort eating
Where are we now? Emerging from Covid 19 – the impact on our wellbeing
13. My recovery journey
Throughout the podcasts, I’ve given you lots of examples from my life, and my listeners’ lives, about how comfort eating plays out. I’ve also shown you part of what it takes for me to respond healthily to my desire to comfort eat.
No Sugar Month – This Is How Professionals Stop Comfort Eating – Part 1
14. How To Stop Comfort Eating
Finally, some of my podcasts have been summary podcasts of what I think it takes to stop comfort eating.
Procrastination – Realistic New Year Resolutions and new habits for the comfort eater.
The Mystery Revealed – What it takes to stop comfort eating.
Final words on stress, anxiety and binge-eating recovery
Today, I’m going to end with a poem, because it speaks to a substantial part of what is needed to recover from overeating, and to be well in the world today:
Can You Love The One Who…
There’s one in you who’s sweet.
There’s one in you who’s mean.
Can you love them both?
Can you let them both be seen?
Can you love the one who tries?
And love her when she fails?
Can you love the one who lies?
And love the one who wails?
Can you love your tears?
Can you love your worry?
Can you love your darkest fears?
Can you love your fury?
Can you love indifference?
Love the one who clings?
Can you love the vibrant one?
Love the one who sings?
Can you love your addict?
Can you love your thief?
Can you love your vanity?
Can you love your grief?
Can you love your inner child?
And your body as you age?
Can you love your wild side?
Release her from her cage?
Can you love the one fulfilled?
And the one who’s not?
Can you love the one who’s chilled?
And whose temper’s hot?
Can you love the weakling?
The one who’s sometimes sick?
Can you love the warrior?
Who fights through thin and thick?
Can you love your crazy?
Can you love your sane?
Can you love your foolish heart?
Love your scattered brain?
There’s one in you who’s bored.
And one who’s often stressed
Can you love them both at once?
And she who tries her best?
If the answer’s “no.”
To some of the above
Then can you love the one in you
Who’s learning how to love?
Leah Pearlman
That’s it for this year. I will be back in 2022. As I mentioned at the beginning, I will be taking a break in January to develop an app and community for you. If you need help or further support in January, please be in touch. Let’s get something organised for you.
Meanwhile, join my mailing list to be the first to know when the podcast is coming back, and to receive all the help I offer in the meantime. There will be videos!
In keeping with this podcast, I wish you a peaceful, loving, confident Christmas, and a centred, clear and empowered start to the new year, where all parts of you are welcome.
See you in 2022!
Want to go further?
Get my Binge Eating Recovery Starter Kit here
Or contact Shelley now to see how I can help you release comfort eating safely.
