2023-05-31 09:02:58
By crying and venting, we don’t just figuratively “take a load off our shoulders” by easing some of the worry that weighs us down psychological y emotionallybut we also indirectly help to prevent our body weight increase in a physical and perceptible way on the scale, according to an expert.
If we systematically repress our emotionswe could be at greater risk of gaining weight by overeating using food as an outlet, according to the Chilean specialist Fran Sabal, founder of the Emotional Nutrition School (ENE).
“I have to be strong and endure.” “I must not cry”. “What will they think or say about me if I let myself cry?” These are thoughts that often lead us to suppress tears, just like the classic “Men don’t cry”, explains Sabal.
But despite what others think, and despite what we have learned since childhood, crying is not negative. It’s a beneficial act that “our body is grateful, both emotionally and physically,” according to this expert.
emotional nutrition
This approach to crying is in keeping with the emotional nutritionwhich addresses food in a global way, considering body weight and digestive health as a result of the interaction of four levels of our being: mental, emotional, nutritional y spiritual“explains Sabal, a graduate in Nutrition and Dietetics, and a postgraduate in Chronic Diseases and Obesity.
Emotions and food influence each other according to Sabal, who through his workshops and a book that describes this concept and a method to apply it, offers keys for this influence to be mutually positive and enriching.
To achieve this, it applies different thought and emotion management tools to nutrition, such as neurolinguistic programming (PNL), at full attention (Mindfulness), la mindful eating (Mindful Eating), la neuroscience and the emotional intelligence.
“Many times we are ashamed to show our emotions and even release them, either because of the image we have created of ourselves or because of “what will they say”, but emotions must be felt and expressed, because in this way we learn to manage them and get to know ourselves better. ”, he points out.
positive effects of crying
He points out that one of the main problems we have with emotions is that since our childhood we have been taught to classify them as “good” or “bad”, but the truth is that they are simply “emotions”, and we have to allow them to flow so that in the long run we will be able to understand the message they bring with them, emphasizes Sabal.
According to this specialist, letting crying flow instead of repressing it exerts positive effectivehow to help us:
- Manage our emotionsbe aware of what we are feeling and let ourselves be guided by the message they bring us.
- release that pain that we carry inside without allowing it to last more than it should in time.
- calm down and relax.
- Reduce anxiety and stress.
- Know our limits better and thus know how far we can go in a certain situation.
- Become aware of our vulnerability and need for supportsomething natural, since we are vulnerable and social beings.
- Reassure us when asking for help to others and count on them.
Sabal explains to EFE how the systematic suppression of crying in the feeding and the body weightin particular.
“We overestimate those emotions that we like to feel, believing that they are the correct ones and we should always feel in a satisfactory way. But life has ups and downs, and includes moments of pain and emotions that we don’t like to feel, and therefore we reject them, resisting them and even repressing them, which increases them ”, he points out.
look emotions in the face
For example, when we feel sadnesswe often deny what we are feeling or try to minimize or avoid it, but the grief is still there, accumulating and stagnating, he points out.
For Sabal, emotions could be described as “an energy that circulates” through our body.
When we repress it and do not release it, by not allowing ourselves to feel sorrow or pain, all that energy has to come out somehow, “and many times the way we have to channel it is by eating,” he warns.
In some cases, “the pain and sorrow we feel are so great that, not knowing how to manage them, we want to run away from what we are feeling and food (which provides fleeting pleasure) can become an escape route, according to he adds .
“This is one of the factors that leads many people with deep and sustained sadness to gain a lot of weight,” he explains.
On the other hand, “if we allow ourselves to feel whatever it is without having to hide it or escape, we will not need escape routes, because we will look at our emotions squarely, with which food will recover its place, which is to nourish us, and not that of being a consolation in the different situations of life”, he highlights.
“You have to embrace your emotions”
If we allow ourselves to cry, as well as feel any emotion, embracing it instead of avoiding it, listening to the information it brings us, understanding what we are feeling and what it reflects in our lives, we will be able to learn of what we are living, grow as people and transcend the emotion instead of staying “hooked” on that feeling, according to this specialist.
“When we feel sadness or an emotion that causes us discomfort, we should sit down and look at it squarely, breathe it, feel it, instead of filling ourselves with activities, running away from ourselves and keeping ourselves very busy to evade ourselves,” he advises.
He points out that “we must pay attention and feel in which part of our body that emotion is located, how it presents itself, what sensations it produces and even imagine it, put a face on it and talk to it, ask it “what are you here for?”, which is equivalent to to wonder: what is the point of me feeling like this?
“You have to give space to emotion because it always brings us a message and it has a meaning, and it won’t disappear until we listen to it,” emphasizes Sabal.
“If we allow ourselves to cry, without resisting what is happening, accepting the present moment, we will be feeling something that life gives us and from which we can learn,” he concludes.
#Crying #good #diet