One of my biggest challenges with food and feeding myself properly has been emotional eating. I ate when I was scared, sad, lonely, tired, cold. And I ate to calm social anxiety, to celebrate happy events, and sometimes even to intentionally hurt myself when I was feeling like I’d really let myself down. Author Annie Lamott (one of my favorites) has called this assault eating, and I whole-heartedly agree.

Getting into a place of relaxation and calm before dinner is essential. Natalia always recommends a bath before a meal, and it helps tremendously.

If I don’t have time to take a bath, or if I’m out and about in the city and I am not able to run home it often seems impossible to get focused. Emotional eaters all know that once the ball starts rolling it only picks up speed if there’s no interception.

The quick and easy meditation that I recommend to clients is the one that has consistently worked for me from the beginning. It started as a non-religious way to say grace, and I have realized that gratitude and connection are the most important things for me.

I look down at my food (mostly vegetables) and close my eyes. I get a beautiful picture in my mind of where my food came from. I see a field of greens, tomato and cucumber vines. I can feel the hot sun, and smell the soil, and I silently say thank you. It takes only one minute, but honoring our food is a way to honor the body. A meal of those beautiful growing things is a wonderful way to tell yourself, “I love you.”