Tapping into Health: Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for Anxiety and Food Cravings

By Larry Burk, MD, CEHP

Do you have anxiety issues that cause you to crave comfort food?

Despite exercise and proper diet is it hard for you to lose those extra pounds?

EFT is a mind-body-spirit self-care approach which involves tapping on acupuncture points while repeating emotionally-charged statements that relate to specific health issues, often referred to as acupressure for the emotions. It is an evidence-based method that has been shown in several dozen randomized controlled trials to be effective for a variety of conditions including anxiety, weight loss and food cravings, depression, PTSD, phobias, pain and other physical symptoms. As a form of energy psychology, EFT addresses the root energetic imbalances that result from trauma and other emotional stressors.

Anxiety-related food cravings may sabotage your weight loss program

Many people use food as a drug to sedate their anxiety resulting in extra pounds of emotional baggage. Weight loss is possible with almost any diet and exercise program, but the secret to keeping it off is to release the emotional issues that drive the weight gain in the first place. EFT provides a simple and inexpensive way to manage your stressors and lose weight without the side effects of drugs or surgery. Specific cravings for sugary junk food can be targeted with tapping very effectively.

Past trauma can act as a malware program in your body

When a negative experience occurs, it is as if a program you don’t want is installed in your acupuncture meridian system. It gets uploaded into the limbic system of your brain that controls the physiological emotional responses in your body. There is a file for every bad thing that ever happened to you with a program, pictures and a story in each one. With EFT you intentionally open the file and run the program by repeating a short phrase that reminds you of the event while tapping.

Memory reconsolidation is the secret to emotional release

Tapping on the acupuncture points is like hitting the delete key, so you can uninstall the program. Once the program is gone and you resave the file, the memory will be altered forever. The next time you open the file the pictures and story will still be there, but the program will be gone. Then your body will not respond in a negative way, so you will have emotional freedom. Tapping clients sometimes report that they forget that they used to crave sugary treats after removing some of the triggering programs!

Limiting beliefs often get in the way of achieving weight loss goals

¨ “I overeat when I am anxious.”

¨ “I overeat when I am bored.”

¨ “I’ll never make it to my ideal weight.”

¨ “I can’t eat just one.”

EFT can be easily combined with mindful eating for optimal results

Mindfulness meditation can assist us in becoming aware of limiting beliefs that are getting in our way. These beliefs often manifest as tail-enders or negative self-talk that come after our most enthusiastic affirmations thus negating their positive effects. EFT can be used to address these disrupting emotions allowing skillful eating decisions to be made. Once the anxieties are released, mindful eating approaches can empower you to slow down and eat just one and be done!

Tapping with dreamwork, breathwork and Imagery for self-healing of physical illness

Tapping can also be used for many physical illnesses that have emotional components. In the Tapping into Health: Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for Self-Healing course, anxiety and food cravings will be dealt with in addition to grief and anger and related symbolic physical illnesses such as sinusitis and frozen shoulder. Dreamwork, breathwork and imagery can be combined with tapping to optimize your self-healing abilities.

Interested in learning more about EFT for Self-Healing?

Join us at Duke Integrative Medicine for Tapping into Health: Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for Self-Healing. An intensive four-week experiential program featuring group tapping exercises and individual tapping demonstrations for a variety of topics. Register early by March 6th to receive a 10% discount. Click here to register now!

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