Getting a divorce can be debilitating on your emotions. You thought you had your life completely planned out with your partner and now that vision for your life has completely changed.
When uncertainty comes into place, it can leave people open to stress eating and developing horrible eating habits just to get through the emotions that are now overwhelming you.
When you get divorced, the emotional roller coaster of ups and down can make you do things you wouldn’t think you’d do normally. Emotions like the following can really drag you down:
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Self-doubt
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Fearing the future
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Denial
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Anger
Experiencing just one of these emotions could be detrimental. After a divorce, you can often go through each one of them together or at various times on the post-divorce roller coaster — and the experience can weigh you down in more ways than one.
When we experience a trauma, and let’s face it — the aftermath of a divorce can be incredibly traumatic for all parties, especially if infidelity was involved — a natural reaction can be to seek comfort from a familiar friend — food.
Food, especially if it has sugar, can seem like it’s comforting but unfortunately it’s tricking your brain into wanting more of it while it feeds anxiety and depression, making things ultimately worse.
So while you want to reach for that new flavor of ice cream you just found at the grocery store, or perhaps down that wine with some chocolate, it will eventually leave you feeling worse than before you had it.
Being in need of guidance is natural — everything in your life has turned upside down! While traditional therapy is a good idea to help you sort out those feelings that have you turning to self-destructive eating, receiving the best nutritional counseling offers may also be a good idea.
A nutritional counselor can help you face what your eating habits are doing to you, but don’t think they’re going to scold you! Rather, they will listen to what you are going through. Together, you will then come up with a plan that can work for you to get you to the goals you want to reach for yourself.
Do you want to shed that weight you gained while you were unhappy in your marriage? A nutritional counselor can help you figure out a new plan that is doable and works for you.
That path to a new you should also include exercising, because the endorphins that are released will help improve your mood, which in turn can help motivate you to reach for the foods that will help you — not hinder your recovery.
It’s easy to fall into bad eating traps when you are overwhelmed by an uncertain future. Going through a divorce can be frightening, but it doesn’t have to ruin all that you wanted for yourself. You can carve a new path to a better you — a more healthy you.
Thanks to our friends and contributors from Lotus Wellness Center for their insight into nutritional counseling.