Your Excuse: "But Food is My Only Comfort in Life!"

The Excuse Buster: Have you ever caught yourself eating when you weren't hungry or craving specific foods for no apparent reason? More often than not, cravings like this come from a deeper place - and you're not craving food at all. You might instead be craving love, comfort, rest, pleasure, or any other number of emotional qualities. Why do these cravings get translated into food cravings? Because many of us have formed a habit of using food and other substances to avoid facing our emotional needs.

Not surprisingly, habits like these can be deeply ingrained, or even completely subconscious. We don't know that our craving for a deluxe bacon cheeseburger is really a desire to be loved and comforted. We just know we want the burger and we want it right now! If we can't have it, we feel miserable.

Introspection and awareness can help you learn to decipher these cravings and figure out what you truly need. One good way to do this is through journaling questions and answers. When a random craving comes over you, grab a sheet of paper and write, "I'm having a craving for _________. Why do I want this?" Then write down the answers that come to mind first. Your answers will vary, but you may first find yourself replying, "Because it will taste good. Because I'm hungry for something besides salad. Because I deserve to eat foods I love."

As you continue to ask more probing questions and dig a little deeper, you'll usually get to the heart of the matter. Then you might start getting answers like, "Because I'm sick of always doing everything for everyone else and not taking care of myself." Do you see the true need within that statement? An answer like this means you are truly craving a little self-care and nurturing! And you can get that in many ways, not by eating a cheeseburger. Once you have identified your true need, you may still have to employ a bit of willpower to do what you know is right because you may still have an irrational emotional attachment to eating a cheeseburger. But the more you get into the habit of feeding your soul, the less of these random cravings you'll experience on a regular basis.