Episode 186: Breaking Free from Emotional Eating: Mindset Shifts & Strategies with Dr. Aalia Al-Barwani

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. So let's get started.

[00:00:27] Welcome back to another episode of the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly, and I am so excited to kick off February with a theme that's all about self-love and empowerment.

[00:00:43] That's right. We are loving our bodies regardless of where we are in our weight loss journey. And this month, we are focusing on celebrating and nurturing the incredible bodies that we live in. And today, we're diving into a topic that's all too common, but often misunderstood, and that's emotional eating. We'll explore how stress and emotions can impact our relationship with food, and most importantly, how we can take back control and love ourselves through the process.

[00:01:12] And I'm thrilled to be joined by a truly inspiring guest, Dr. Alia Al-Barwani, a physician and certified NLP coach and a powerhouse in helping women transform their relationship with food, their bodies, and themselves. With her expertise in addressing emotional eating, stress, and limiting beliefs, Dr. Al-Barwani combines evidence-based medical care with the mindset coaching to help her clients achieve lasting and weight wellness.

[00:01:41] And together, we'll uncover practical strategies to overcome emotional eating, reprogramming limiting beliefs, and embracing a healthier mindset around food and self-care. So grab your headphones, a warm cup of tea, and let's dive in. So thank you so much, Dr. Al-Barwani, for joining us today. Will you mind maybe just telling us a little bit more about yourself and how you got into this space? Thank you so much. Welcome. I'm so excited to be here today.

[00:02:08] My journey, so as you mentioned, I was at obesity medicine physician. Be coached. And so my journey to obesity medicine came strong from my primary care and just wanting to help women to achieve their goals when it comes to their health. And I was just noticing this pattern around how it had to do with lifestyle. So their nutrition, their lifestyle, their mindset, and that was contributing to their weight. And that was contributing to these chronic diseases.

[00:02:38] And so that kind of brought me to obesity medicine. And then on a different level, I was noticing another pattern where even if we tell our patients and we teach and educate and we use motivational interviewing to really get them incentivized and motivated to make change, there was still this gap between education and execution. So on a personal level, I really saw the benefits of NLP coaching and mindset coaching to really bridge that gap.

[00:03:07] And so that's what brought me into NLP coaching to discover how powerful mindset is and shifting identity work and creating sustainable change. And so by bringing the medical part as well as the coaching part and helping women to really overcome a lot of the challenges and limiting beliefs that seem to block them from reaching their best selves, really. And for those who aren't aware, would you mind just sharing what does NLP stand for? Well, I use that so often that I forget that it's not a common term.

[00:03:35] And I only came into it a few years ago myself. So it stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. And the short story is that it's understanding the language of the brain and how our brain works and how we can use that to drive behavior and results, get the results that we want. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Now, would you mind defining as well, what is emotional and stress eating and how can someone identify that if they're experiencing it? Yeah, that's a really good question.

[00:04:05] So emotional eating is when food becomes a coping mechanism for emotions rather than a response to physical hunger. And so this can happen in moments of stress, boredom, sadness, and anecdotally less commonly, but it can also happen in times of celebration rate. Stress eating in particular happens in high pressure situations or stressful situations that trigger that urge for comfort or distraction. And remember the truth is, Dr. Shelley, that we all eat emotionally at times. And so I've experienced it definitely.

[00:04:35] It's part of being human. However, it becomes a problem when food is the only way to soothe difficult emotion. And our signs of this would be eating when you're not physically hungry, having specific cravings for what we consider as comfort foods, feeling maybe out of control around food.

[00:04:53] If eating feels like a band-aid for any kind of emotional distress or not having emotions and it's your go-to, then it may be a clue that you may have some issues around emotional eating to explore there and see what's beneath the surface. Okay. All right. Now, you mentioned some emotional triggers. You mentioned like even celebration, stress, any other emotional triggers that people can have that may trigger them to emotionally eat? Yeah, there's so many. And for every person, it'll be deeply personal.

[00:05:23] And so stress is a really big one that I see very commonly, whether that's work stress or relationships or like transitions. Other emotions often may be loneliness, anger, resentment, boredom, feelings of inadequacy. As you tell sort of those heavy emotions, these are typically common triggers. As I mentioned, less commonly, there can be excitement celebration that can also lead to overeating.

[00:05:48] And some of these triggers come from like learned habits, such as associating food, comfort, or reward in our childhood. And so for every person, they're going to have to really identify what is their unique trigger if they want to kind of begin the journey to addressing emotional eating. Got you. So that is important to kind of figure out what your triggers are. Why do you feel like food becomes that source of comfort for us when we're going through these emotional states?

[00:06:17] Yeah, that's a really good question as well. And I like to say the main thing is that food doesn't ask for anything in return. I like to say the main thing is that food doesn't ask for anything. It's called excessive control or instant gratification. Like, I would think also make the other control of the mind. The other thing is the neurochemical perspective. Eating certain foods, particularly foods that people tend to pray when they're emotionally eating, which are these high-sugar, high-fat, high-salt foods.

[00:06:45] When we eat these foods, they release dopamine in our system, which is that feel-good hormone. And so regardless of what other negative emotion you may be experiencing, we know that eating these foods, we're going to turn that around pretty quickly. And while it's, you know, a temporary pleasure that actually feeds that negative feedback loop, it becomes our go-to for emotional discomfort. Now, are there any particular types of foods that we tend to gravitate more than others? Yeah.

[00:07:14] So as I mentioned, there are often these, you know, I never see anybody even be craving like an apple or a carrot. This is when I'm actually eating only, right? No one wants a salad when they're craving this. I'm not eating that salad. I'm often going to see, as I mentioned, these high-salt fats and sugar foods because it does give us that dopamine, that feel-good hit. So think chocolate, chips, I'm screaming baked goods.

[00:07:40] These are foods we associate as comfort food that stimulate the reward system. The downside is that, of course, as I mentioned, it's short-lived. And often people who do this will feel worse afterwards. That makes sense. And to feel guilty and shameful, I would say, too, afterwards. Exactly, exactly. And so that's part of that cycle that you're kind of feeding into is that you feel terrible after doing it. And then often feeling terrible can drive further emotional eating because you've got that temper of relief.

[00:08:10] And so the cycle can be really difficult to break without awareness, really. Yeah, absolutely. Well, what are some steps that someone can take to break the cycle when they realize that they're in it? Any particular steps that they should start with? Yeah, that's a really good question. And the first step, as I just mentioned this a minute ago, is awareness. And I always say that's the first step in undoing or in change in general, right?

[00:08:36] So bringing awareness to those behaviors, to those triggers. What are the things that you're eating when you're in this state? And paying attention if it's, as I mentioned, those craving foods, then, oh, that may be a clue that there may be some emotional eating here. What's happening internally when you are in these moments? And from there, really beginning to your pause strategy, right? So like taking a pause and realizing that this is happening.

[00:09:02] What that does on a neuroplasticity, la jolla is really like breaking that automatic reach for food, right? So oftentimes, people are, without thinking, reaching for these foods that give them that gratification, that soothing, calming feeling. And so by just kind of stopping and pausing and asking yourself, am I hungry? Like what's happening in this moment? And what exactly am I trying to soothe by turning to food?

[00:09:29] Just that process can really help to begin to form new neural pathways and new habits, or at least to break the habit of just automatically reaching food in these cycles. Awesome. So definitely having that mindfulness about it that you're eating will help with breaking the cycles. Any other practical tips or techniques that people can use to manage stress? Yeah, I love telling people to journal.

[00:09:56] A lot of people don't want to journal, but I love insisting on journaling. And it doesn't have to look like a dear diary moment. It can literally be a brain dump for a lot of people that can in itself really allow an outlet for a lot of emotions and thoughts and limiting beliefs that they're holding in their body. And just the process of jumping onto a separate space can begin that process of like de-stressing somebody. And then also raising awareness.

[00:10:25] So often through journaling and you're seeing certain patterns that can also, again, feeding back into what I mentioned earlier of like awareness being the first step to breaking that cycle. Some other things that can be really helpful for people to help to de-stress is movement. Movement is so big in terms of like its effects on reducing stress and managing stress both in the moment, but also kind of proactively on a more regular basis.

[00:10:49] So engaging in some kind of activity, whether that's dancing or more of a mind-body connection like yoga, that can be really helpful. And then the third thing I'll add because I really particularly love this is, well, actually, I'll add two more things. One is breathing. I really am such a proponent and having learned about the mind-body connection with respect to work, how that can really help to de-stress, right?

[00:11:16] Like just that boost of and just those breaths. And again, also in the moment, not only in the moment, but also proactively on a regular basis to help you to regulate your nervous system in a way that you are not in this high stress sympathetic mode all the time. That's like a flight. And then the fourth thing I'll say, which is kind of also in line with the last few suggestions I've had, which is somatic work, right?

[00:11:43] Working in the body is something called AFT or emotional freedom technique. And that's really shown to be, there are a lot of studies out there in growing body of information and how helpful that can be in addressing anxiety and stress. So those are just some things to get started. Okay. Would you mind sharing a little bit more about the EFT? What does that entail exactly? Absolutely. EFT is one of my favorite things to do. And I do this literally daily.

[00:12:13] And so what it is, the concept behind emotional freedom technique is tapping on specific points on the body. So here on the top of the head, part of the eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye. So there are specific points that hide to meridian points that are, as you may have be familiar with the acupuncture and acupuncture that help with the flow of energy in the body.

[00:12:35] And so these points really, what happens when we have overwhelming emotion is that the emotion is sitting in the body and there's no outlet for it. And so it can be, as it's internalized, you know, it can express itself as disease sometimes even. And so we know the effects of chronic stress on the body, right?

[00:12:56] And so we see that on a more bigger level, you know, kind of a resume how to start zooming in really and being in touch with how our body is day to day. EFT helps that flow of emotion so we're not congested. Just like having a good balance of your mood, things are moving through you as opposed to being internalized. So EFT is a really great technique and I encourage everybody to get into it. Okay. Well, thank you so much for sharing that.

[00:13:25] Going back to the journaling, you mentioned we should do it all the time. Is this something one should do like once a week or daily or is it just they can actually decide what they want to do? Or what is your recommendation usually? That's a really good question. And I say that it's definitely also very personalized to somebody and how, where they find the best relief. I know people who love doing it every single day. It's the way they start their day.

[00:13:50] It's a way to kind of get things, their emotions kind of on, process their emotions so that they can now move on with the rest of the day. Right. So the EFT happens regardless. And then the journaling, it's more when I, there's still stuck emotion. There's still these things that are swirling in my head. I'll go to journals. So I would say, and that frequency can look like depending on what's happening twice a week, once a month. And then the important part to distinguishing or figuring out that frequency for you is just having that mind-body connection, right?

[00:14:18] Realizing that there are things that I'm processing that I can't process. Journaling is great for that. So I would say, again, it's very personalized. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing kind of how some steps that we can take when we are emotionally eating. Any last minute advice you have for somebody who's trying to continue this journey and may be suffering with some emotional eating and stressful eating? Any last advice?

[00:14:45] First thing I want to say is to give yourself grace and to have self-compassion. And that's the biggest thing that I would say. Because oftentimes, as you mentioned, that guilt and shame that happens after an episode of emotional eating can really even stop somebody from seeking help. Because oftentimes it's something that they're hiding from their loved ones. And so I would say, you know, have that self-compassion and approach to yourself from a place of love.

[00:15:11] And say to yourself that you're human and that you're doing the best that you can. And sometimes just acknowledging that, right? And acknowledging your own efforts can create space for like growth, resilience, and independent of what's happening externally. The other thing I would say is in terms of like kind of support, there are some books and apps that can really help you. So a book that I read that I really enjoyed was The End of Overeating by, I think, John David Kessler. I really enjoyed that book.

[00:15:38] And a lot of the concepts in his book, I mean, serendipitously, I was separately creating a course for emotional eating. And he inputted a lot of the things that I already was applying. So I loved that. Also, I was like, oh, that's great. Apps like Headspace or Calm, which help with mindfulness, can also be really helpful in kind of lowering that sympathetic, bringing more balance to your life and awareness. And then lastly, I'll say therapy through either CBD can be really helpful.

[00:16:06] And personally, I love coaching. I think specifically NLP-based coaching where, again, you're bringing mindset awareness to drive changes in behavior is an excellent way to do that as well. Oh, thank you. Well, would you mind sharing with the audience how somebody can work with you? Of course. So as I mentioned, I do have, I do say, so an excellent course that is a self-paced course that you can access on my website, albigaiawellness.com.

[00:16:31] I also do work with people who want our clients one-on-one for mindset coaching or if you're in the state of Texas, medical wellness programs. And so you can reach me either on my website or through social media. I'm under the same handle on all of those things, which is albigaia underscore enrollment. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Albawani, for coming today and being able to share with us about how we can overcome stress eating and emotional eating.

[00:16:58] And please feel free for everyone out there listening to share your story. Thank you so much, Dr. Albawani, for coming today.