When was the last time you felt nervous, thirsty or the need to pee? How did you know that you were feeling these things? Perhaps you began to notice your heart beating a little faster in your chest, the feeling of distention, discomfort and urgency that accompanies a full bladder, or a dry mouth.

Emotional eating is a completely “normal” part of eating. Food may be used as reward or bribe, it may also be used to calm, soothe, numb or push down difficult emotions. In the grand scheme, there are far more dangerous coping mechanisms we could turn to.

Have you ever felt addicted to food? It can be quite common for individuals to experience so-called food addiction. The aim of this article isn’t to invalidate your experience of this, it’s just to explore some of the scientific studies on this topic and then perhaps offer some general guidance for helping you feel less addicted to food.

As a rule of thumb, diet culture is anything that equates health and beauty to slenderness and links food and eating to morality.

It’s the system that tells you that you are what you eat, that you need to earn your food and that you “should” spend time, money and effort into making your body smaller or stronger or look a certain way, or that you are “good” when you eat certain types of foods, and “bad” when you eat others.

How often has a calorie count impacted your food choice? Example: You walk into Pret at lunch time and scan the shelves.

You’re drawn to a satisfying option, but immediately see the calorie count and think, gosh I can’t possibly have that and pick something within a “safe” range instead.  Seeing or knowing the calories in a particular food item can play quite a significant role in our choices. But more importantly, is this information accurate and do you find it helpful or unhelpful?