You Are More Than Food

I have mantras that I say to myself whenever head hunger hits.  One of them is “You are more than food” or more specifically, “You are more than that cookie” or replace the cookie with whatever food you’re tempted to eat.

Whenever I eat from head hunger (aka emotional eating), I feel lousy.  The lousy feeling isn’t limited to physically but more emotionally and mentally.  When I pause from the urge to eat something (usually sugary) and remind myself that I am more than the food item, that will almost always stop me from eating it.  I don’t want to feel less than a stupid cookie.

Whenever I give in to unhealthy food choices, I’m giving up my personal power.  Big statement but it is true.  I know what are healthy food choices and what are unhealthy food choices.  In the moment of head hunger/emotional eating, if I give in to that temporary food fix, the message I’ve given to myself is that I am less than the unhealthy food item that I ate.  Multiply this process by many times a day, week, month and year, we suffer low self-esteem, low self-worth and the downward spiral in the quality of our lives.  That’s why my mantra of “You are more than food” and “You are more than that cookie/chips/fast food junk food” is so powerful to me.

Mantras to avoid emotional eating

I’m in control, not that cookie

Eating that cookie won’t get me closer to my weight loss goal

Nothing tastes as good as feeling in control of my food choices

You’ve come too far to let that cookie derail your success

Just say NO and YES to my health

That cookie will only make you feel worse

1 cookie is too much and 1,000 cookies aren’t enough – don’t go there

I’ve got this, the cookie doesn’t

Whatever the problem, the answer isn’t in the cookie

Keep your focus on your success not on the cookie

This list is only a few examples.  The purpose of a mantra is a phrase or saying that has significant and personal meaning to you.  For example in my mantra of “You are more than food” reminds me how I feel when I surrender to the temporary urge of eating an unhealthy food choice, makes me feel inferior and powerless to a stupid cookie, and most importantly, that I am more than the tempting food choice.

Just by saying those five words – You are more than food, gives me more happiness, control and personal power.  No way can I eat a cookie after that.