The Dr. Carolyn Coker Ross Show: Binge Eating Disorder, Stress Eating, Emotional Eating, Food Addiction

Latest Episodes:

77: Quarantine Resilience – Growing Through Our Pain Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

"Pain can be an invitation to heal."

When we began talking about the quarantine it was 8 months ago and I'm sure you, like me, had no idea that it would last this long. Because it has lasted so long, I am hearing from people all over the world and also reading the research showing that there are record increases in mental health issues.

Social isolation, fears about the virus, home-schooling, working from home, unemployment, and financial stress can lead to binge eating, emotional eating, and food addiction behaviors. Building resilience will help you get through difficult pandemic/quarantine struggles. As well, many people are finding they have grown in response to their struggle or loss.

In this podcast, you will learn:

10 steps you can take to build resilience.
How to take advantage of your struggles to build self-confidence
What you can do to find comfort without binging, emotionally eating, or having food addiction behaviors.

Mentioned on the show: Take the Resilience Quiz - https://carolynrossmd.com/resilience-questionnaire/

Exercise mentioned in the podcast: When one door closes, another opens.

The goal of this exercise is to help you realize that the end of one thing is also the beginning of something new. Also, the end of something positive is not only a negative. Shifting your perspective can help you to refocus from what is not there to the potential of the future.

1. Think of a time in your life when a door closed - you lost a job or a relationship, a business failed, etc. Then answer these questions: - What was the door that closed? - What led to the door closing? - What new experience came into your life? - What did you learn from this experience? - What character strengths did you use to get through this?

2. Now think of all the people who have helped you in the past to open new doors? What did they do? What can you do to help others open new doors?

Thanks for listening! If you are struggling and need professional help to manage stress during the pandemic, you can find a list of resources: https://bit.ly/3ooKNIC Schedule a free consult to discuss your food and body image issues: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult The Anchor Program is a 12-week non-diet program offering ONLINE group and individual sessions for the treatment of binge eating, emotional eating, food addiction, and compulsive overeating. Want to learn more about the Anchor Program? https://AnchorProgram.com Where you can find me: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolynRoss Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review!

76: Food and Money - Interview with Francine Rogers Dec 14, 2020

Show notes

"Food and money are both used to self-soothe."

You may not be aware that if you have binge eating, food addiction, or emotional eating, your relationship with food may be a mirror for your relationship with money. If you binge with food, you may also be a binge shopper or spender. My guest, Francine Rogers, says she can easily look at a client's credit report and identify everything about their relationship with money. Both food and money can be used to self-soothe emotional upset, to celebrate, and to numb yourself.

In this episode, you will learn:

⦁ How food and money issues have the same root causes. ⦁ Why a focus on numbers (FICO score or the number on the scale) can never solve either food or money problems. ⦁ Three steps you can take to heal your relationship with food and money.

Mentioned on the show: Schedule a free consult to discuss your food and body image issues: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult The Anchor Program is a 12-week non-diet program offering ONLINE group and individual sessions for the treatment of binge eating, emotional eating, food addiction, and compulsive overeating. Want to learn more about the Anchor Program? https://AnchorProgram.com How you can reach Francine: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulcredit Where you can find me: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolynRoss Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review!

75: Fullness - An Interview with Author Azure Moyna Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

"Dysfunction in a family can trigger eating and body image issues."

Azure Moyna has written a memoir about her journey to healing from an eating disorder and how her childhood trauma and family dysfunction contributed to the development of her food and body image issues.

In this podcast you will learn:

⦁ How and why family dysfunction can lead to an eating disorder ⦁ How writing a book can be a form of therapy ⦁ The role food plays and doesn't play in binge eating disorder, food addiction, and emotional eating

STUDY GUIDE: HOMEWORK

Start keeping a journal of your own journey to healing from binge eating, emotional eating, or food addiction. Challenge yourself to limit what you write in your journal to: positive changes in behavior or thinking, affirmations, quotes that inspire you, and what you're grateful for.

Mentioned on the show:

Link to book "Fullness": https://amzn.to/2JlCKNG

Schedule a free consult to discuss your food and body image issues: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

The Anchor Program is a 12-week non-diet program offering ONLINE group and individual sessions for the treatment of binge eating, emotional eating, food addiction, and compulsive overeating. Want to learn more about the Anchor Program? https://AnchorProgram.com

How you can reach Azure:

Azuremoyna.com

Where you can find me:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolynRoss

Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review!

74: Midlife Eating Disorders Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

Midlife eating disorders are increasingly common in women. Some midlife women experience binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction, or emotional eating. Others may develop anorexia or bulimia. Midlife eating disorders may lead to unhealthy dieting as a way to solve uncomfortable transitions in life, grief and loss issues, or other stressors associated with aging. There are many causes of eating disorders in midlife that can include pandemic depression, menopausal changes in body image, perimenopausal depression, or anxiety over the future.

In this podcast you will learn:

1. What are the causes of midlife eating disorders? 2. What does midlife eating disorder prevention include? 3. How does trauma impact midlife eating disorders?

Mentioned on the show:

Schedule a free consult to discuss your food and body image issues: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

How you can reach Nicole:

https://www.mentalhealthnewsradionetwork.com/our-shows/zestful-aging/ https://www.zestfulaging.com/

Where you can find me:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolynRoss

Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review!

73: Depression and Binge Eating Disorder Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

In some studies, the association is between 84% and 100% of those with these eating disorders also having depression and anxiety. Binging, food obsessions, and body image issues can trigger or exacerbate depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety can also lead to binging and emotional eating. There are many types of depression including – pandemic depression, seasonal affective disorder, and some types of depression unique to women.

In this episode you will learn:

What is seasonal affective disorder?
How the pandemic has caused a spike in depression and anxiety.
What are the 3 types of depression unique to women?
How can you know if you have depression or anxiety?
How depression and anxiety affect binge eating, emotional eating, and food addiction.

Mentioned on the show: (links)

Schedule a free consult to discuss your food and body image issues: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

72: Emotions, Food and the Body Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

The current pandemic has resulted in an increase in fears about financial security. People have been experiencing feelings of stress, failure, and anxiety around money matters. Dr. Galen Buckwalter coined the term "financial PTSD" which may affect over 20% of the US population to describe this overwhelming fear and lack of financial security. My guest today will discuss how she works with clients in her financial planning business to identify hidden beliefs that impact their stress around money and why these beliefs may come from past traumas. "Twenty-three percent of adults and 36 percent of millennials experience financial stress at levels that qualify as a diagnosis of PTSD." (Dr. Galen Buckwalter)

Mentioned on the show:

Three Tips for Building Resilience: https://cadynorth.com/3-tips-for-building-resilience

Find out if you are an emotional eater = take the quiz: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y8X8QYL

Join the webinar: "How to stop feeling crazy around food" http://bit.ly/2sEH7dS

To learn more about The Anchor Program: https://AnchorProgram.com

Supporting articles:

https://goop.com/wellness/career-money/are-you-struggling-with-financial-ptsd/

How you can reach Cady:

https://cadynorth.com/

Where you can find me:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolynRoss

STUDY GUIDE:

Here are a few techniques you can begin to practice to help you with financial fears:

Negative thought stopping – try to interrupt constant repetitive thoughts about failure and financial worries.
Take my guest's advice and practice using affirmations to keep your mind from defaulting to fear thoughts.
Recognize that financial PTSD can impact your eating behaviors. Stay present when eating and identify any emotions that may lead to overeating, binging, or obsessing about food.
Practice relaxing. Use apps like "calm.com" to hear relaxing music and meditations that will help lower your stress hormone levels.
Consider working with a therapist on your past traumas.

Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review!

71: Why Being a "Good Girl" Leaves Much to be Desired Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

"A woman's fury holds lifetimes of wisdom." (Actress Traci Ellis)

Being a "good girl" often means at its most basic level, not being authentic; not being able to express yourself authentically. If you want to overcome binge eating or a negative body image, you need to realize that good girls can NEVER express anger. Over many past newsletters, I have highlighted the importance of being aware of your emotions as an important step in putting an end to unwanted behaviors such as binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction, and emotional eating. Often we use archetypes as a way to deal with our emotions, covering up our personal truth. But it's more important now than ever to bring context to the roles or archetypes that define women's body identity and body image and most especially tend to define women living in larger bodies.

In this episode, you will learn:

How the roles we play can have an impact on our body size and body image.
How archetypes can hide the truth of who we are.
How to find your truth beneath the roles you play.

STUDY GUIDE: HOMEWORK

1. Identify which archetype fits you best. 2. Look for the "truth" that your archetype may hold for you. 3. Listen to the Archetype meditation in the podcast and to recapture the dreams you may have lost or thrown away because of limits you or others placed on you because of your body size.

Mentioned on the show: Here is the link to my #TEDxPleasantGrove talk on intergenerational trauma: https://youtu.be/ljdFLCc3RtM

Schedule a free Anchor Program consult: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

70: Interview #3 with an Anchor Program Graduate Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

The Anchor Program is an online program that offers a non-diet approach to treating binge eating, compulsive overeating, food addiction, and emotional eating. The video below is an interview with a graduate from the Anchor Program (1 year after she completed both the 12-week intensive and the 6-month Subscription program). I wanted to do these interviews as a way to demonstrate the successes these amazing women have achieved in the program and to highlight what "success" means when you take a deeper approach to deal with food and body image issues.

Schedule a free Anchor Program consult: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

69: Interview #2 with an Anchor Program Graduate Oct 21, 2020

Show notes

Schedule a free Anchor Program consult: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

68: How to Stop Using Food as a Crutch Oct 12, 2020

Show notes

If you've been using binge eating, emotional eating or food addiction behaviors or body dissatisfaction as a way to deal with your stress, emotions or to deal with underlying childhood beliefs of unworthiness or unlovability, it is hard to change. Want to know how to deal with stress and food cravings? Want stress relief, food addiction help, and an end to emotional eating. Listen in.

In this episode, you will learn:

How to deal with emotions without using food as a crutch.
Specific actions you can take to deal with stress without using food as a crutch.
Why your body is the result not the cause of your problems.

STUDY GUIDE: HOMEWORK

1. List situations in your life that are stressful. Some examples might include: - loneliness - dissatisfaction at work - relationship issues (relationship with parents, siblings, partner/spouse, friends) - parenting concerns and fears - financial - other - add in any other stressful situations in your life right now 2. For each of these situations, make a list of behaviors you have around food that you are recognizing are a response to these life stressors. For example, I was laid off from work and have been worried about finding another job. Looking back, I've noticed that I've been eating lots of junk food "because it's cheaper" but really because of wanting to be comforted. 3. List 1 statement (affirmation) you can say to yourself the next time you "feel fat." For example, I can ask myself "what are you really feeling?" or I can remind myself that I can use another skill to deal with stress rather than food or body hatred.

Mentioned on the show: Schedule free Anchor Program consult: https://findingyouranchor.as.me/consult

Here is the link to my #TEDxPleasantGrove talk on intergenerational trauma: https://youtu.be/ljdFLCc3RtM

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