How Food Addiction Heals

Food addiction heals incrementally. What soul work is needed for your next increment?

The foundational truth that has driven and supported my healing of my own food addiction is that it can be healed completely and permanently, no matter how long you've had it and how severe it's been.

The human soul is never broken beyond repair. Compulsive eating has nothing to do with personality or nature or who you really are.

When I share this, many people feel optimistic and inspired. It is a relief to think that one day in the future, they may not have daily struggles with overeating.

On the other hand, many people understandably feel this is impossible to imagine. It feels so far away, and it still feels impossible a lot of the time.

I can empathize! Early in my journey, I resolved that in my heart that I believe the human spirit is never broken and I believe my soul can heal from this, but I still felt doubt.

I had resolved that I thought the human spirit is never doomed, but I was worried about whether I actually could do it, and I was clueless as to what it would look like.

I had no frame of reference: I was overeating, hiding food and sneaking food, as young as I can remember. I had no experience of myself, ever, not having been a compulsive eater.

Here is what I recommend:

Understand that healing food addiction takes time, and that it happens incrementally.

When you start to emotionally work through the root cause issues that cause it, your overall compulsive behavior will improve, maybe at first by just 5%.

A 5% improvement in your wanting to eat when you're not hungry, eat way too much, or your compulsion to only want junk food. You're not healed completely, but it's 5% better, overall.

That is a 5% overall improvement, permanently, forever, and will never go back. It's a 5% improvement you do not have to put in any effort to maintain. It is truly healed.

Then, you keep going along like that.

5% becomes 10% and then 50% and then 80%.

So, if you find the notion of becoming a person without compulsive eating to be too hard to imagine, I encourage you to ask yourself:

What would a 5% improvement look like for me?

What is the next increment?

And most importantly,

What soul-based work will get me to that next increment?

Photo by Mona-Eendra via Unsplash