Do You Treat Your Body Like A Garbage Can?

Today I had to get my car fixed and while I was waiting, I went to get Sushi from a restaurant across the street. I ordered my favorite roll and began eating. Two pieces away from finishing the plate I stopped. I was feeling satisfied and knew I wanted a miso soup. I was instantly reminded about how in the past that simple act of stopping, especially when I was so close to finishing the entire plate, not to mention that I wanted to order something else, would have been very stressful and mentally consuming for me. ED would normally show up and try to justify why I should finish the plate – because that’s what I should do and because it was only two pieces. I usually always ended up listening to ED, which always caused me to over eat. Listening to ED was also connected to the fact that I was raised to believe that I should eat everything on my plate, not to mention that you shouldn’t waste anything, and that since I spent money on the meal I needed to get my money’s worth by eating the entire portion outlined.

While I sat inside of these lists of rules and excuses as to why I should just finish my plate – essentially while my mind consumed me and tried to convince me what I should be doing, something very important happened.

• Each and every time I showed up to the table like this,
• Each and every time I had this conversation in my mind,
• Each and every time ED ultimately convinced me to just finish it all because
• I should …. I not only overate – I treated my body like it was a garbage can.

I can’t remember who or where but someone once told me this thought – that by overeating you are treating your body like a garbage can. It made so much sense to me and made me realize that by eating food that my body truly didn’t need out of the guilt of wasting it or even the fear that if you didn’t eat enough now you could potentially be hungry later, caused me to treat my body as if it was some sort of garbage can that I pollute.

However, when I used to be ruled by ED for all of those years, I never ever looked at it this way. Truthfully because I never thought of my body as anything that I had respect for or even a liking to, thinking about what happened to it when I overate like I did all the time was never looked at as anything other then – potentially weight gain or a knowing that I was a piece of shit who didn’t know how to control herself and stop eating.

That’s how ED manipulated me. That’s how ED continued to allow me to overeat and treat my body like a garbage can.

It was such a screwed up time, but learning this simple way of thinking – such that “Paula, whether you throw the food out or you shove it down your GI track when you are actually full, and knowing it is all going to end up in the same place later!” helped me start to begin to see my body, food and meals in a completely different way.

Learning how to stop eating when you are full – if you tend to be an over eater, as I was – was certainly a difficult thing to change. It took practice, commitment and a type of patience and mindfulness that ED does not permit.

Here are some tips and tricks that helped me no longer overeat and stop treating my body like a garbage can.

1. Before you eat – make a connection to your food, realize that you are eating a meal and it is JUST ONE MEAL. Remind yourself that you have 47893279874387932173 meals ahead of you to have in your life – so don’t stress! Also, remind yourself not to get lost into and escape your life with this food. It is just food not a way to cope with emotions.
2. While you are eating – put your fork down, take a deep breathe and again make a connection with the food – I know for myself when I didn’t put my fork down I found it a lot easier to eat more because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, especially when I was feeling anxious or uncomfortable I would end up eating faster and more. With this in mind, follow the next step….
3. While you are eating – BE AS MINDFUL AND PRESENT AS YOU CAN – do this by seeing your food and BREATHING
4. Remind yourself that you don’t have to finish the plate just because it is there. Don’t get sucked into such thoughts such as – “While you already ate this much, you might as well just finish.” Or “You already screwed up, just start fresh tomorrow or next week or next month.” Those are just thoughts driven by ED, thoughts that are created to stop you from living your dream life and keeping you miserable with ED.   *Here’s a hint if you are out at a restaurant – When I have the option, I always take things to go with me, that way I am not wasting anything and I have food for later! It’s a win, win situation! However, there are times where I cannot take things to go this doesn’t mean that you get to treat your body like a garbage can – point number 5 will help you get through this type of scenario….
5. While you are eating – check in with your body. Ask yourself, “AM I STILL HUNGRY? AM I STARTING TO FEEL FULL? DO I NEED MORE OR JUST WANT MORE?” – don’t judge yourself if this is hard to answer at first because I can almost guarantee it will be. You need to think about it this way, when you are living with ED you are living in your head. When you are in your head you are not present and furthermore not living in your body. How can you expect to be able to connect with your body right away through asking those types of questions? You can’t. You need to practice this skill and the more you practice – I promise the easier this will be.

I hope this blog has helped you learn some new tips and tricks of how you can begin to stop overeating and no longer treat your body like a garbage can!!!

PS. LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW – I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS!

Paula Galli, Hons. BSc. Psych, CNP, RNCP, ROHP
MOTIVATIONAL COACH, NUTRITIONAL COUNSELLOR & EATING DISORDER EXPERT