24 Apr Use Your Subconscious Mind For Weight Loss and Prevent Emotional Eating

Why is it that our brains are wired to reach out for ice-cream after a bad breakup? Why do we eat things that remind us of our mother’s cookies or cakes, when we miss home? Or, why eat chips while we watch a game?!

The answers can be found within our subconscious mind and the way we access the subconscious mind!

Think of everything you learned as a kid- the values you were taught, the lessons you learnt along the way, the characteristics you picked up etc. They have formed your subconscious mind which is also known as a large memory bank.

95% of what we do in a day is done subconsciously. What makes up things below the awareness level- your weaknesses and strengths, your values, things that motivate you on a deep level- is the subconscious mind. Because the subconscious permanently stores every single thing that happened to you, you make decisions based on your innate “gut feelings” which comes from what your subconscious mind has picked up on and formed over the past years. These decisions can be spread out to almost anything- include why we eat what we eat.

I grew up in a family, where my mother had a different taste pallet to anyone else in the house. She liked to eat food that had a rich but weird depth- from tangy and spicy fish curry to really bitter and peppery bitter-guard fries! Just thinking of the memories of these dishes, are making me salivate, but it also made me realize that I have also gravitated towards the same exact taste pallet simply because I was influenced by her at a very young age- I mean, who doesn’t look up to their mom at that age?

So my subconscious mind knows that I enjoy foods with these dimensions and depths because I relished eating differently to everyone else and yet similar to the women I looked up to- my mom.  The food we like also seems to form a deeper bond. So it’s safe to say that the actions we take or the behavior we exhibit is subconsciously motivated.

Eating popcorn at the movies or gravitating to a certain kind of snack while watching a game, can all be traced back to the trajectory of the subconscious mind based on when it has been influenced, or who it has been influenced by( maybe you saw an ad or someone attractive to you eating the snack)

In essence, we are all emotional eaters- but for those of us who continuously do it are doing so, because of some deep seated issue within that has been motivated by your subconscious. Hence, it’s important to change the subconscious mind first and then move to the things we do consciously.

In the video below, we see that our emotions are co-related to our eating. The doctor advises us deal with our emotions and not indulge in something we know will harm us in the long run, as a means to find quick happiness.  The video also discusses urge- surfacing to avoid eating food that make us feel guilty.

The best solution is to become mindful of your urges. This means to become aware of the fact that you are feeling either crappy or elated and want to eat out of sadness or happiness. With meditation you can train your subconscious mind to bring down these urges by simply waiting for it to come down from a level 7 to a level 1.

Then, visualize a healthy lifestyle where either stamina or paying respect to your internal organs, or whatever healthy goal motivates you is more important than indulging for a short while.

Simply breathe, identify if the craving is related to your emotion and then wait for the urge to come down. You may choose a distracting or repeating affirmations such as, “ this too shall pass ” or “ I can ride out this desire ” will help replace unhelpful thoughts with a more stable state of mind.

Nehita Abraham

Nehita is a mindfulness expert who writes extensively on lifestyle management, wellness and ways to lead a healthier and a happier life. She is a part of Aware’s expert team on meditation. She is also an avid artist who spends most her time dribbling amazing stories through art.