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An unhealthy relationship with food can lead to a routine of emotional eating when life gets hard. However, healthy eating habits can be taught gently, and these top three eating coaches help identify patterns and things that trigger your eating, as well as establish tools and tips to overcome emotional eating.
Note, Physiqz has no affiliation with any of the coaches listed in this article. This article, like all others, is for informational purposes only.
Top 3 Emotional Eating Coaches
If you’re struggling to reach your weight loss goals, it could be time to start seeing an emotional eating therapist. Emotional eating therapy can help eliminate unhealthy relationships with food and the psychology of binge eating
By understanding the relationship of weight-related eating behaviors, eating coaches can analyze the science behind data-backed methods. They use their knowledge about specific eating behavior to tailor their coaching sessions to assist participants in being successful with weight loss.
Note, these three coaches are listed in no particular order and were chosen by the editorial team due to their reputation and credentials. As always, perform your own due diligence.
1. Stephanie Mansour
Stephanie Mansour is a health and fitness expert who has made a name for herself in the health industry on numerous news and TV shows, such as Fox New York, Today Show, PBS, and her very own “Step It Up With Steph” on American Public Television. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, Steph focuses on helping clients through tips and tricks that make dieting easier, learning how to make healthy food choices, and getting rid of emotional and physical weight slowing you down.
All in all, Stephanie Mansour is highly qualified in this industry, having earned her BA in Communications with an emphasis on Women’s Studies & Psychology from the University of Michigan.
2. Tania Danielle
Tania Daniele is an emotional eating coach who’s dealt with these issues face on and overcame her eating struggles. Since she has a personal relationship with emotional eating, she knows what it is like to struggle with feelings about food, meals, and eating.
Ms. Daniele overcame binge eating disorder and emotional eating by seeking help from a therapist, giving up intense dieting plans, and traveling in her free time.
Once she sought help from the emotional hold that food has had over her life, she began studying and became a certified therapist, Master NLP Practitioner.
3. Pamella Arnold
Pamella is an eating coach whose own history with disordered and emotion leading helped her become a professional in the industry. She was diagnosed with insulin resistance in her early 20’s and struggled to develop a healthy relationship with her body and food. Once she found the joys of coaching, she even taught herself how to avoid triggers, manage her emotions, and make healthy choices.
Pamella is also certified by the College of Naturopathic Medicine.
If you have gained excess weight, emotional eating coaches can help motivate you with a 30 day weight loss challenge among family and friends.
What is an Emotional Eating Coach?
Sometimes individuals may develop an unhealthy relationship with food due to their coping methods and avoidance tendencies. Studies have shown there are direct relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating. An emotional eating therapist can help individuals by counseling them on how to identify triggers that can cause them to make suboptimal food and undesirable eating decisions.
These coaches are professionals who have the qualifications to help individuals who are struggling with binge eating or comfort eating, to help them develop coping skills to re-learn how to look at food in a healthy way.
Although emotional eating is more common than many people think, there are slight differences in what individuals choose to eat and the amount of food consumed to improve their mood. An intuitive eating coach can uncover the psychology of emotional eating to see why certain people eat according to their emotions and the types of food they rely on to cope with negative emotions.
How do Emotional Eating Coaches Help?
The right coach can determine the prevalence of emotional eating in an individual and the severity of the issues by using the Emotional Eating Scale.
This scale indicates that emotional eating may precede binge eating among overweight individuals and eating can help people recognize behaviors and alter them for a healthier outcome.
Furthermore, emotional eating counseling can help individuals who feel that suppressing foods has the opposite effect on their desired intention. Studies have shown that suppression can increase food intake of comfort foods like jello, which is definitely not good for weight loss or emotional binges. By understanding the psychology of emotional eating, an emotional eating therapist can help develop a meal plan to avoid comfort eating.
Is an Emotional Eating Coach Right for Me?
There are numerous benefits of hiring an eating coach to help teach you how to eat healthily, develop a better relationship with food, and avoid obsession with meals. Although some people may find it more therapeutic and effective, it is useful to experiment with trial and error sessions to see how you respond to eating coaching.
An eating coach has the knowledge and skills to address clients’ diets, mindsets, and attitudes towards food and eating.
- Coaches have studied the science behind emotional eating, helping identify WHY clients feel a certain way during binge eating or comfort eating.
- Coaches learn the different types of emotional eating to help different clients on a wide spectrum.
- Emotional coaches learn to identify an emotional eater and a client’s willingness to seek help.
- Using coaching strategies and questioning techniques, an eating coach can uncover why a client feels this way, how to help them, and build a trusting relationship.
- Studies have shown that using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy can help provide a better understanding of adult emotional eating and its impact on weight. Utilizing specific types of therapy with intervention methods can help with emotional eating and weight in adults.
- Intuitive eating coaches can also use stress-reduction techniques to promote positive moods in clients to help treat eating disorders.
Studies have shown a strong relationship between emotions and eating. Having someone push you into going to an eating coach may not benefit your mind and body if you are not ready. Although you are struggling, you need to WANT to get help before doing what is best for you.
In some cases, the first step of getting help is speaking to family and friends about how you are feeling. When it comes to measuring success, sometimes the first taste of something positive is simply being brave enough to talk to your loved ones about your relationship and struggle with food.
These types of coaches understand that emotional eating is complex – there is likely more to emotional eating than increasing food intake when in a negative mood. Coaches can help dig deeper and discover the psychology behind emotional eating to create helpful tools and coping skills.
Instead of just putting yourself down because you are “tired of being fat”, speak with your family and friends about how you can achieve your weight loss goals. Attend courses about healthy eating, create a healthier meal plan, and begin tracking your progress to encourage yourself to keep going.
Using an Intuitive Eating Coach to Reach Your Weight Loss Goals
Choosing the right coach can make all the difference between seeking help for your emotional eating and seeing progress or being stuck in a rut. Finding help and guidance from professionals is one of the best ways to safely identify the reasons behind disordered eating and how you can improve your life.
Clients can speak with their coaches to talk about what is working for them in the session and what is not. There is a higher chance of success by being open and honest about how you’re feeling.
If you use a virtual coach, consider talking to the professional about using dialectical coaching strategies for a higher success rate.
If you feel like you will never lose weight, have an unhealthy relationship with food, or feel like you have nowhere to turn, it can be time to ask for a professional’s help.
An emotional eating coach is a reputable professional who can help you identify causes behind your emotional eating, behaviors that are causing you to binge eat, and then help you develop coping skills to get your life back on track and develop a better psychological relationship with food.
References
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