That empty bag of chips on your desk. The ice cream container that somehow became empty after a tough workday. The cookies that disappeared while processing a breakup. If your food choices are tangled up with your emotions, you’re facing one of the most common – yet least discussed – challenges of modern life. But here’s the thing: all those moments of turning to food for comfort, distraction, or relief can be transformed with a powerful tool called EFT Tapping for emotional eating.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how Tapping can help you break free from emotional eating patterns and develop a healthier relationship with food. Plus, you’ll get access to practical Tapping scripts you can use right away to start your journey.
What is Tapping for emotional eating and how does it work?
Before we dive into the Tapping techniques, it’s important to understand what emotional eating is and why Tapping can help.
Whether you’re dealing with stress, anxiety, loneliness, or boredom, food can become a way to numb, distract, or comfort yourself when uncomfortable feelings arise.
Here’s how it often works:
- Experience a difficult emotion
- Turn to food for comfort or distraction
- Feel temporary relief
- Experience guilt or shame about eating
- Have more difficult emotions
- Repeat cycle
This cycle can escalate into more serious issues like binge eating disorder or other disordered eating patterns. But there’s hope – EFT Tapping provides a way to support yourself and break free!
EFT Tapping, a combination of ancient Chinese and modern psychology helps address emotional eating by:
- Reducing stress and anxiety that may trigger emotional eating
- Processing difficult emotions without turning to food
- Breaking the association between emotions and eating so you can create new, healthier patterns
- Building self-compassion and reducing guilt, shame, and self-judgment
- Addressing root causes of emotional eating
EFT Tapping meditation for emotional eating: an easy script to follow
If you’re new to Tapping, you can learn the basics of EFT Tapping here.
Before you begin with the meditation:
- Take a moment to tune into any craving or urge to eat emotionally. Notice where you feel this urge in your body. If you can, identify what emotion is triggering the desire to eat.
- Rate the intensity of your urge to emotionally eat right now on a scale from 0-10 (with 10 being the most intense and 0 being no craving at all).
- Take a deep breath in and out, and then start Tapping on the side of the hand. Repeat the phrases in your mind or out loud.
Side of the hand:
Even though I feel this urge to eat,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I sometimes use food to cope with how I feel,
I give myself permission to breathe deeply and relax now.
Even though part of me finds temporary comfort in food,
I choose to be kind to myself,
And I’m open to exploring new ways of coping.
Eyebrow: This urge to eat my feelings
Side of the eye: Food makes me feel better
Under the eye: But only temporarily
Under the nose: Then I feel worse than before
Under the mouth: This pattern of emotional eating
Collarbone: Using food to avoid my feelings
Under the arm: I acknowledge this familiar pattern
Top of the head: And I’m open to creating a shift
Eyebrow: What am I really craving?
Side of the eye: What am I trying to avoid?
Under the eye: What do I really need right now?
Under the nose: Maybe it’s not about the food
Under the mouth: Maybe I need something else
Collarbone: Like comfort, love, or support
Under the arm: It’s safe to feel my emotions
Top of the head: I don’t need to cover them up with food
Eyebrow: I choose to be gentle with myself
Side of the eye: I’m learning new ways to process my emotions
Under the eye: I can slow down and pause
Under the nose: And ask myself what I really need
Under the mouth: This craving is a messenger
Collarbone: It’s helping me learn what I need…
Under the arm: to take care of myself better
Top of the head: I choose to honor my true needs now
Eyebrow: I choose to tend to myself with love and care
Side of the eye: I choose to nourish myself in healthy ways
Under the eye: I trust my body’s signals
Under the nose: I eat when I’m physically hungry
Under the mouth: I stop when I’m satisfied
Collarbone: I’m getting stronger every day
Under the arm: I’m breaking free from this pattern
Top of the head: Feeling grounded, centered, and empowered now
Take a deep breath and check in with yourself. Rate your urge to emotionally eat again on a scale of 0-10.
If the number is still higher than you’d like, continue tapping through the points, using your own words to express what you’re feeling.
If you have anxiety or stress around what to eat or not to eat, try this Tapping script for releasing stress around food.
The Science behind Tapping for emotional eating
Researchers are still learning more about why we have food cravings and how they are linked to our emotions, but it’s clear that eating for emotional comfort is a common issue for many.
Fortunately, research has shown promising results for using EFT Tapping to address eating issues, beat food cravings, and even lose weight.
Studies have demonstrated that Tapping for weight loss, food cravings, and eating behaviors is quite effective. EFT can help with weight loss and cravings because it helps us manage and process our emotions in a healthy, productive way – rather than relying on food for comfort or distraction.
One study on Tapping for food cravings, for example, found that people felt positive changes in their “power over food” after using Tapping (on top of that, they also lost weight over time!).
When we learn to address our emotions, process them, and release them, we empower ourselves to make decisions from a place of clarity and intention; breaking the cycle of emotional eating for good.
Tips for using Tapping to address emotional eating
If you’re looking to try Tapping for emotional eating or other eating-related issues, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Tap Preventatively: Don’t wait until you’re in the midst of an emotional eating episode. Regular Tapping can help reduce the overall stress and anxiety that might trigger emotional eating. The more often you can help yourself release negative emotions and find a state of peace and ease, the easier it will become to let go of emotional eating patterns and make more empowered choices.
- Get Specific: When Tapping, focus on specific situations, emotions, or types of food that tend to trigger emotional eating for you. The more specific you are, the more effective the technique will be.
- Address Root Causes: Use Tapping to explore and heal the underlying reasons for your emotional eating. Oftentimes as we tap, we will reveal deeper and deeper layers related to whatever we are working on. Certain memories might show up, or a deeper emotion you didn’t know was there. This is all normal! Follow the thread and keep Tapping on whatever shows up.
- Be Consistent: Make Tapping a daily practice, even if it’s just for a few minutes. The more regularly you do it, the better your results will be.
Ready to take the next step and transform your relationship with food?
Download The Tapping Solution App today to explore a vast library of Tapping meditations that can help you relieve stress, process strong emotions, manage food cravings, and more.
Here are just a few of the meditation options available in the app:
Remember, healing your relationship with food is a journey. With tools like EFT Tapping, you can develop new coping strategies and create lasting change.
Have you tried Tapping for emotional eating? What about EFT Tapping for binge eating or eating disorders? Share your experience in the comments below.
Until next time… Keep Tapping!
Nick Ortner
P.S. Here are real stories from real people who used Tapping to overcome cravings, stop binge eating, and more.
“That really was all I needed! Just a quick grounding and mental check in. I knew immediately what I really wanted was some comfort and sleep. Making a chamomile tea and going to bed.”
-Xan
“I have been to the shop several times and haven’t been coming out with chocolate or my usual binge items. It has been a revelation!… the best thing has been feeling more at ease and in control around food.”
-Sarah
“I have tapped on sugar cravings. Well I just have to say… amazing! There are so many goodies in the faculty room right now to celebrate our secretary for all she does. Normally I would fill my plate with all kinds of sweet goodies. I don’t even have the desire or craving for any of it. WOW I love it!”
-Claudia
“Today had a tough conversation full of anxiety and emotional pain. Started tapping in the conversation and what a noticeable shift. It frees up Caveman brain to actually connect with heart. Food cravings noticeably decreased… I am not thinking about resisting foods. Eating good… I totally am in this for the change from within and trust my body will respond. It so helps me.”
-Kathy
Want to experience these kinds of results for yourself? Start Tapping along in the app today.
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