Emotional Eating is about SAFETY

SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH THE VIDEO!

The 90-to-100 scale
If your client is already “up to 90” – ie hyper-vigilant, running a lot of cortisol and generally stressed both physically and mentally, it only takes one small trigger to hit 100, which in turn triggers emotional or binge eating.

With emotional or binge eating, the goal is not always to “stop the binge”. The goal is to bring their system back down to 20 or 30 throughout the day, which significantly reduces the risk of a binge in the first place.

HOW TO DO THIS:

The Hand-on-Heart breath – try it yourself!

Rub your hands together briskly until you feel heat being generated.
Cup your hands over your heart, and feel the heat from your hands radiate into your chest.
Take a slow breath in for the count of 5, and breathe out for a count of 8.
The pressure of your hands plus the slower exhale gives your nervous system a clear “you’re safe” signal. You are showing yourself a moment of self-compassion, this is literally a heartwarming exercise.

Clients will NOT remember to do this in the moment of overwhelm unless they are practising it. So after you do this with clients in session, I recommend they set 3 alarms in their phone – throughout the day, with a gentle alarm tone/sound, and the name of the alarm is ‘hands on heart’.

If they can just take 30-60 seconds to do this three times a day – even when they don’t need it – they are a) reducing their stress level each time, and b) they are far more likely to remember it as a strategy when they DO need it.

REFERENCES:

Self-Compassion Step by Step. Kristen Neff (2013). Colorado: Sounds True inc. Widely available online including Spotify, Audible and You Tube.

‘Fire Card’ image from The Four Energies of Emotional Eating therapy card deck and ebook – details here. A fantastic resource to use with clients.

CONTINUING EDUCATION OPTIONS FOR 2026

Practical, applicable skills training, delivered in person by EXPERTS.

1 SPECIALIST IN EMOTIONAL EATING AND BINGE EATING

15-week training to specialise in Emotional Eating and Binge Eating Disorder

Everything you need to work safely and ethically with every aspect of emotional eating and binge eating disorder. Includes modules on working with weight loss medication, working with co-occurring ADHD and binge eating, and modules on how to market your new specialist skills!

36 CPD / CE Credits.

Dates: Friday 20th February – Friday 29th May 2026

Live weekly calls: Fridays 3 – 4.30pm Ire/UK, 10 – 11.30am EST, 7 – 8.30am PST

Specialist Training – secure your place now

2 ETHICAL WEIGHT MANAGEMENT AND GLP1 SUPPORT

For any practitioner working with clients taking GLP1 medication, thinking about it, or discontinuing medication.

Fully in line with NICE, JAMA and WHO guidelines on the key pillars of support that need to be offered alongside weight loss medication.

We cover everything from managing side effects, to behaviour change and the all important psychological impacts and challenges that many clients experience.

12 CPD / CE Credits.

Dates:

Saturday 14 February – 1 Day Intensive. Online live training day.

Sat 14 Feb – Sat 28 Mar – 6 weeks support

Join our online community, work through 6 self-paced learning modules, ask any questions you have, take the quizzes and get your 12 Continuing Education credits!

Full details and registration here