Are you an emotional eater? Are you searching for various ways to control it but nothing is as useful as expected?
If the answers are affirmative, then maybe you should try the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) which says tapping certain body parts and chanting specific mantras can increase feelings of self-control.
Confused? Let’s know what exactly the Tapping Therapy is and how does it work?
Just imagine, if losing weight was only a matter of counting calories and exercising more, then we all would have easily achieved our dream weight goals and would have stayed there forever. But that’s not the case, isn’t it? There is a good number of reasons emotional eating can enter our daily lives and is much more difficult to end than any other complication.
Stopping emotional eating means achieving a healthy habit of food intake into our lives, and providing ourselves a healthy and fit physical appearance. In order to do that we have to treat our brain in a different manner.
Though there are many techniques that can be used to control our minds from emotional eating, ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’ has been the most useful. It is a tool that has been used for 20 years to help people effectively overcome emotional and physical issues.
Also known as ‘Tapping’, this technique has evolved from Chinese medicine, (such as acupuncture) and involves the tapping of two fingers, in a set sequence, on certain points of our face and body. It may sound strange to you if you’re hearing about it for the first time, but the EFT technique has been used to successfully treat fears, anxieties, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even physical issues such as migraines. So why not give it a shot?
Here’s the whole Tapping Therapy!
Well, the first step is to know about and remembering the EFT Tapping Points:
eyebrows,
side of the eye,
under the eye,
under the nose,
on the chin,
collarbone,
rib cage,
underarm,
wrists,
and finally, top of the head
The second step is the Preparation.
We use what therapists call the Subjective Units of Distress Scale Rating or ‘SUDS Rating’ to assess the intensity of our cravings; zero means no craving, and 10 would be the strongest. It is important for you to understand how much are you craving the food in front of you on a scale of 1-10. After a few times, you will be aware of your own patterns.
After we have decided on a number, it leads us to the third step which is the Set-up.
It starts by rubbing on what is called the ‘sore spot’, a particular area on our chest. The idea is to focus on our conscious mind and make it listen to what we want to say. As we rub, we say to ourselves, “Even though I need to comfort myself with food and I’m unable to stop, I completely and fully love and accept myself.” “Even though the food is my comfort because I feel loved and warm when I’m eating, I completely and fully love and accept myself as I am now.” “Even though I use food to comfort myself when I’m stressed or feeling lost, I completely and fully love and accept myself without judgment.” We then end the process with a few deep and gentle breaths.
In the fourth step, the real Tapping Steps start and the full process is divided into three rounds.
In the first round, we take our dominant hand and with two fingers start tapping seven or eight times on each of the points in order. As we touch each point, we say these phrases along;
Eyebrow: ‘I need that food so I can feel comforted.’
Side of the eye: ‘Part of me is longing for that comfort’
Under the eye: ‘of a full stomach.’
Under the nose: ‘I’m feeling so hungry,’
On the chin: ‘so hungry for love.’
Rib cage: ‘and don’t know how to feel okay.’
Underarm: ‘I want to let these cares and woes slide right off me.’
Wrists: ‘I need that food so I can feel some relief.’ Top of the head: ‘I’m feeling scared and overwhelmed.’
In the second round of tapping, we again start with the ‘sore spot’ rubbing and saying, “Even though I still have this need to comfort myself with food, I completely and fully love and accept myself.” And then the tapping starts again.
Eyebrow: ‘I’m trying to wipe all these emotions away.’
Side of the eye: ‘I don’t have the support I’m longing for, so I’m using food to soothe myself.’
Under the eye: ‘I’m trying to create the illusion of feeling full, and complete,’
Under the nose: ‘but the truth is it’s not working very well for me.’
On the chin: ‘It’s only creating more and more pain as I get fatter and fatter.’
Collarbone: ‘What if I could start being more responsible and recognising that I can support myself on an empty stomach?’
Rib cage: ‘Rather than just punishing my body with too much food,’
Underarm: ‘I could choose to start making some changes now,’
Wrists: ‘even though it feels really scary.’
Top of the head: ‘I can start to support myself now in positive and healthy ways.’
In the third and final round, we take ourselves to the next level of improvement.
Rubbing the ‘sore point’: ‘I want to release this habit of comforting myself with food and stop this self-sabotage, so I’m now starting to find healthy and positive ways of rewarding and comforting myself.’
Eyebrow: ‘I now choose to forgive myself for all the damage I’ve done to my body.’
Side of the eye: ‘I’m choosing to find healthy and rewarding ways of soothing myself.’
Under the eye: ‘I’m releasing this old, damaging need to comfort myself with food.’
Under the nose: ‘I was doing the best I could with the resources I had,’
On the chin: ‘but I can see now there are better ways of taking care of myself.’
Collarbone: ‘I know now how to treat my body with love and kindness.’
Rib cage: ‘I’m so much stronger and capable than I ever allowed myself to believe.’
Underarm: ‘I love this feeling of strength and joy,’
Wrists: ‘as I release all the old hurts and resentments from every cell of my body.’
Top of the head: ‘I’m feeling so powerful as I make these wonderful changes.’
Again, you end it with a pause and a deep breath following by another SUDS assessment of the craving rate.
Even if something else is bothering us, apart from emotional eating, the EFT script has been designed with phrases and set-ups for various issues. The aim is to repeat all different stages until we get a successful and satisfying low number as a result of the SUDS assessment rate and say to our weaknesses ‘goodbye’ forever!
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