A lot of us use food to cope with feelings. And when I say “using food,” I mean that sometimes we eat certain foods in response to emotions, but I also mean that sometimes we restrict or withhold food in response to emotions. And sometimes we diet as a way to try and cope with how we are feeling. Often we don’t even know we are doing this. These food and dieting behaviors become such a normalized part of our lives that we aren’t even aware that we are using it to distract from or numb ourselves from feeling our feelings.    Emotional eating isn’t a bad thing. We ALL do it sometimes, and that’s perfectly normal. It can become a problem when emotional eating becomes the only way we have to cope, or when we are using it to avoid our feelings.    Our emotions aren’t something we need to be afraid of. They serve an important purpose in terms of telling us what we need. With intuitive we can practice noticing our feelings, naming them and giving language to how we’re feeling (which is sometimes harder than you think it will be because most of us weren’t raised with a very good emotional vocabulary), and then we must learn how to cope with our feelings in ways that are more kind and compassionate towards ourselves.   I can’t wait for you to listen!    Links Mentioned: Grab My FREE Breaking the Binge Cycle Worksheet Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston, PhD