C.H.U.L.A. Method Breakdown: Acknowledge Your Emotions
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Welcome to the fifth and final blog in our CHULA Method series! The CHULA Method is what we use here at Your Latina Nutrition to support you in living your most vibrant and authentic life by reclaiming the joy years of dieting have stolen from you. It’s an acronym that stands for:
It encompasses the process of connecting to your body, ditching diets, and making peace with food for good while embracing your cultural food staples.
In this series, we’re breaking down each part of the CHULA Method, one blog post at a time. If you missed it, here’s our prior CHULA Method explainer posts.
This week, we’ll be explaining what the A in CHULA—“Acknowledge your emotions”—really means and how you can put it into practice!
Acknowledging Your Emotions Around Food
Emotional eating has gotten a lot of attention over the last few years. Many people believe they are “emotional eaters” and worry that they are stress-eating or bored-eating too often.
First off, I want you to know that having an emotional connection to food is normal!
For example, in our Latine culture, food is love and that is a beautiful thing. I know my abuela’s arroz con habichuelas and pollo guisado always made me feel comforted, loved, and warm inside. In that case, food connects me to a pleasant emotion.
However, eating can also lead to unpleasant emotions such as guilt, anxiety, or shame since diet culture demonizes eating certain amounts or types of food.
Eating can also be preceded by emotions such as joy, boredom, stress, loneliness, and more.
Coping with food sometimes is completely normal. There’s no shame in finding pleasure from food. What we do want to be aware of is if food is the only or primary source of coping with emotions.
Typically food won’t resolve the root of the issue you’re dealing with, but sometimes it’s exactly the pick-me-up you need.
If you find yourself primarily coping with food, consider what other coping mechanisms you could incorporate so that food is not your only coping strategy. Some ideas include therapy, journaling, physical activity, and talking with loved ones.
Acknowledging Your Emotions About Your Body
Another area where acknowledging your emotions is key is body image.
Phew. With all the toxic messaging out there it’s no wonder most people struggle with body image.
If you have a really rocky relationship with your body, it may be tough to face the emotions.
If you’re ready, reflect on the following questions:
What words come to mind when you think of your body?
How do you connect to your body?
If you feel discomfort about your body, is it physical or emotional or both?
What’s your relationship to your body like?
Is it rooted in distrust, hate, disdain?
Could that shift towards appreciation, respect, neutrality?
Acknowledging the thoughts and emotions that come up is key to building awareness so you can improve your relationship with your body.
Show Yourself Compassion
Show yourself compassion as you notice the emotions.
Most of us have such deeply ingrained beliefs about food and our bodies that began from a very young age.
Before being too hard on yourself for having these thoughts or feelings, show yourself compassion and empathy.
It makes sense you’d struggle with body image and your relationship to food. We live in a society steeped in diet culture, and the constant food and body comments from our Latine families don’t help.
Be willing to meet yourself where you are, and take it as slow as you need to.
Final Thoughts
This was a quick overview of how and why to acknowledge your emotions around food and your body. It can be tough work, but many chulas find it is so worth it when it comes to improving their relationships to food and their bodies.
Click here to read the rest of this CHULA method series.
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month!
