10 Tips for Overweight Teens
Get Your Feelings Out Regularly
Millions of people, young and old, are turning to food to fill an emptiness inside. When we are babies, whether we start on the breast or the bottle, we learn that food is comfort, it is nurturing. Food is love. Food is life.
If we are in emotional pain, lonely or needing comfort, food often becomes our quick fix. When we eat to excess over a long period of time or when we cannot stop eating, just like with any addiction, we need and deserve help.
Anger and other strong feelings are just energy that is trapped in the body. Because we are often afraid to feel our feelings, we keep them bottled up inside and don't intentionally release them in healthy ways. We will often eat food to attempt to numb them out. Eventually, they will leak out in destructive ways, often on the people we love. Emptying our emotions helps relieve our emotions and stress and helps to relieve the hunger that lives inside of us.
Create emotional release times. In order to release pent-up feelings, schedule regular sessions with a friend, parent, mentor, counselor, life coach or spiritual teacher—someone who is not afraid of feelings, who you can talk to, cry with, yell in front of and hit pillows with.
Join a support group. A variety of groups are led by professional counselors, as well as self-help groups such as at Overeaters Anonymous and Weight Watchers. Some support groups are specifically for men, women, teens and so on.
If we are in emotional pain, lonely or needing comfort, food often becomes our quick fix. When we eat to excess over a long period of time or when we cannot stop eating, just like with any addiction, we need and deserve help.
Anger and other strong feelings are just energy that is trapped in the body. Because we are often afraid to feel our feelings, we keep them bottled up inside and don't intentionally release them in healthy ways. We will often eat food to attempt to numb them out. Eventually, they will leak out in destructive ways, often on the people we love. Emptying our emotions helps relieve our emotions and stress and helps to relieve the hunger that lives inside of us.
Create emotional release times. In order to release pent-up feelings, schedule regular sessions with a friend, parent, mentor, counselor, life coach or spiritual teacher—someone who is not afraid of feelings, who you can talk to, cry with, yell in front of and hit pillows with.
Join a support group. A variety of groups are led by professional counselors, as well as self-help groups such as at Overeaters Anonymous and Weight Watchers. Some support groups are specifically for men, women, teens and so on.
NEXT STORY
