Do you struggle with binge eating, and no matter what you’ve tried, you just can’t stop? Or maybe you’ve tried to lose weight by eating less and then threw in the towel because it was just too hard? This week, Jenn is talking to therapist Heather Heynen about how to make progress for the long run, not just for a short period of time.
Today, Jenn is joined by therapist Heather Heynen to discuss overcoming binge eating, restricting, and yo-yo dieting once and for all. She explains some common causes behind eating disorders for many people, and the steps that can be taken to heal our relationship with food. Heather breaks down some somatic practices that you can try, as well as how to name your feelings so you are able to lower the temperature on them and recover without leaning on something else, like food or substances, to numb those feelings. She shares the valuable difference between state and story, and why changing your story can change your habits...for good! Tune in to learn more about these wonderful tools!
The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- [6:28] How does binge eating, restricting, yo-yo dieting and anxiety all play into Healther’s work today?
- [8:15] How often does Heather see these issues as a mental health therapist?
- [10:00] What are some of the biggest mistakes Heather sees people making when it comes to trying to change their behavior?
- [12:38] What are somatic practices and why are they so much more effective?
- [16:01] What is big T trauma vs. little t trauma?
- [20:05] Where do you start with healing your relationship with food?
- [24:49] How do these tools lead to long term behavior changes?
- [26:27] If you process your feelings more in your head, what can you do to work through it?
- [28:39] What is state vs. story?
- [32:02] How can we help children feel their feelings or tolerate distress better?
- [34:39] What lessons has Heather been able to learn through her solo bike packing trips?
- [38:24] How can you cultivate giving yourself grace?
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- When you learn how to feel and experience your emotions, you will no longer need other things, i.e. food or substances, to numb and avoid those feelings.
- Long term results come from consistency, being patient with yourself, giving yourself a lot of compassion and grace throughout the process.
- You either hold your emotions in your body (energy) or in your head (thoughts). Learning how to process both of them can lead to freedom from unwanted habits.
QUOTES:
- [8:32] “The biggest disordered eating pattern is binge eating disorder, overeating, emotional eating, that sort of thing. In my practice, I do specialize in treating that, so I personally see it, but if we look at statistics, that is definitely the biggest type of disordered eating that we have going on.” - Heather Heynen
- “I think anybody can do anything for a finite period of time...then it becomes a function of how we can create the things we can do for an infinite amount of time." – Jenn Trepeck
- [13:03] “Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings drive our behaviors, our behaviors give us our results, so you can understand why working with the thoughts and shifting to the more helpful ones is really important when we’re talking about sustainable behavior change.” - Heather Heynen
- [13:42] “Our feelings, our emotions really are energy within our bodies, and if we don’t learn how to process emotion, it gets stuck. It gets stuck...
