10 Ways Kaizen Stops Emotional Eating
Okay, I’m guessing your first question might be: what is Kaizen? So, let’s clear that up first.
Kai – change
Zen – for the better
This Japanese concept began in the field of business management, but has been co-opted into self-improvement.
The original idea was to create a structured way for work groups to co-operate to create change in a defined company process. It was intended as a quick intervention that would be the basis for continuous improvement in the future.
The Five Principles of Kaizen
In that approach, there are five fundamental principles:
- Define
- Measure
- Analyse
- Improve
- Control
You first define what problem, task or process you will look at, and decide the logistics of how to approach it. Then, you measure your starting point. Next, analyse all the different aspects of the process and how they interact. Where can you best make changes that will affect the entire system? Okay, now you’ve got a plan, it’s time to implement it, to make those improvements. And finally, control: check if it actually works.
Now you may be asking: what has that got to do with my emotional eating? Fair question!
Kaizen for Personal Change
These days, Kaizen is also used for personal development. One of the concepts within the ‘Improve’ principle is that small, repeated actions make a big difference over time.
This is something that you will have heard of before, in one way or another. For example, it underlies the much repeated idea that it takes 21/28 days to establish a new habit. Or the 1% idea: make an improvement of just 1% every day, which builds up like compound interest, so at the end of 28 days you have achieved a shift of 32% and at the end of a year of 3778% Yes, it really builds up like that!
Another of the concepts that has been touted with Kaizen for personal change is that you don’t have your spend a long time on whatever it is. Some people say: just commit to one minute a day. Now, it doesn’t have to be exactly one minute. I’ve created a number of Kaizen videos that are all closer to the two minute mark as part of my FREEdom course. And another video on YouTube that is under four minutes, to creatively visualise clearing your plate of overwhelm and stress.
While not 1 minute, are you really going to say you can’t make 2-4 minutes a day to fundamentally shift your relationship with food?
A part of the power of this approach, besides it being quick and compounding your results, is that it harnesses the power of your subconscious mind. Let me explain…
Every night when you sleep, your mind processes what has happened during the day. Some things will be filed in the ‘unimportant, forget about it’ section, some will be filed in ‘might be useful at some point’ and some will be filed in ‘important, keep it at the ready’. If you do something every day for a while, it boosts that thing in importance to your subconscious mind, so it will be kept at the ready. That means it will be easier to activate when you really need it, and that it will become habitual, so you easily do what you have set in place.
Using Kaizen to Stop Emotional Eating
Let’s go back to the five principles, then.
First, define what you want to achieve. Do you want to reduce cravings? Or to release the emotional issues or states that trigger your eating? Maybe you want a motivation boost to keep you on track.
Second, measure where you are with your eating/cravings/emotions/motivation now? That might look like the number on the bathroom scale, or how often you binge in a week, the number of biscuits/chocolates/calories you eat daily, how often you struggle with cravings, or how often you feel (de)motivated. What metrics do you use or could you use?
Third, based on the problem you have defined, analyse where you are and what needs to change. For example, if you want to reduce your cravings, and you realise you have them at least twice a week, then analyse both what foods you tend to crave, and in which situations. Do you always struggle with cravings at the weekend when the kids are around? Is that because the kids leave stuff on their plates and you end up eating it? Is it because you feel overwhelmed by having to organise play dates and meals and clubs?
Fourth, it’s time to implement the changes you have defined. Commit to doing between one and five minutes a day of your solution. And do that preferably at about the same time every day for 28 days.
Fifth, check back in: have you followed through with your Kaizen? Measure again how things are now after this time spent. Use the same baseline measurement, so it’s an honest comparison.
10 Different Kaizen Programmes
With all of these the idea is to set yourself a manageable daily target. So, how about you pick your Kaizen, set a 1 to 5 minute timer, and start…
1) Kaizen to Calm Cravings
Here, you can tap or use a soothing touch while you imagine that food or those foods you have craved. Remember where you get them from, what they feel look and taste like. What their mouth-feel is.
And remind yourself that you can breathe and feel calm and release any cravings around this food now.
2) Kaizen to Release Emotions with Music
Bring clearly to mind the emotions or situation that has been bothering you. Then decide how you would like to feel: calm, empowered, free? Which piece of music has that feeling for you? Play it in your mind, replacing the soundtrack of ‘I’m sad/angry/hopeless’ or whatever it is for you.
The power of this process will be boosted if you use tapping or the Havening touch at the same time.
3) Kaizen to Release Emotions with Memories
Like the exercise above, first acknowledge what your emotional issue is. Then, consider what would be the opposite. Bring to mind memories where you felt that positive.
For example, if you feel unsafe, remember a time when you felt safe: when, where, with whom, how did you know/experience that feeling, what created that feeling? Breathe that memory into every cell of your body as you tap or Haven.
4) Kaizen to Release Emotions with Counting
What is your trigger emotion or situation? Tap or Haven and say it out loud or in your mind. Allow yourself to connect with it, then take a deep breath and blow it out.
Start some kind of counting exercise. This could be as simple as counting your breaths: breath in and out, 1; inhale, exhale, 2; and so on. It could be setting yourself something more challenging: count up in fours from 23, until your timer rings, or count down in threes from 728. Or count primes, if you’re a maths genius!
This works to get you out of your emotional state and into a rational, logical state.
5) Kaizen to Release Emotions with Eye Movements
Again, the idea is to connect with the emotion or situation that is an issue for you. Tap or Haven as you acknowledge it, then use eye movements to alter your mental state.
You could just use one kind of eye movement (eg. Side to side) in rounds of up to 30 seconds then rest. Or you could use different eye movements for each round (eg. Side to side; then circle up and around to the right; then circle left; then roll up, breathe in, relax down on out breath and repeat; then trace X’s – up left, down right, up right, down left.)
6) Kaizen for Long-Term Motivation
What inspires you long term to shift your relationship with food? It might be a particular number on the bathroom scale, but let’s dig a bit deeper. How would you feel if you saw that number? What would you do if you were at that number? A number isn’t really an end in itself, it’s about what it means to you and how you would experience it.
Equally, your motivation might be health, and what that means to you: feeling good in your body, being strong, being able to enjoy yourself…
Maybe you are motivated to finally truly be in control. Not a pretend control that breaks down over and over, but a control that feels easy and natural, like being a ballerina poised en point or a gymnast in a handstand or someone who can be outside of the cage because freedom feels safe.
Whatever long term motivation you decide upon, consider what that would look like. Pick or create an image, and gaze at it intentionally every day for your set time, or tap or Haven while focusing on it.
7) Kaizen for Short-Term Motivation
Instead of picking an image to represent your motivation long term, you can take time every day to randomly pick an image or word, an object or an animal, a colour or a shape, to symbolise what you can do today to improve your relationship with food.
For example, if you get the word visual, you could choose a visualisation of yourself closing the fridge, or watching tv holding a stuffed toy rather than a biscuit, or calling a friend rather than eating. If you get the word radio, listen to some music, or design a play list of songs that make you feel calm/empowered/energised/joyful, or connect with someone on a forum or Discord or elsewhere, like talking to a stranger on CB radios of old.
If you pick an animal at random, maybe it’s a dog that reminds you to go for a walk, or a cat that says, strike out on your own today, or a lizard for catching some rays (or wrapping up in a blanket to keep cosy).
If you pick a colour, is it green for having a green smoothie, or pink for doing a self-care ritual, or orange for getting creative? Pick a colour and ask yourself, what can I do today that would bring this colour into my life? Maybe you draw a picture using only variants on the colour blue…
8) Kaizen to Tap and Breathe
This is a basic mindfulness practice that you can do in many ways. It will drop your cortisol levels and boost your mindfulness. Both of these support you in making better choices around food. You could pick any breathing practice you like.
9) Kaizen of Chakra Affirmations
Strengthening yourself at all levels makes it easier to manage emotions and cravings and connect with your motivations. How about visualising a short affirmation for each chakra and reminding yourself of your strengths?
For example, starting at the root chakra, you could say: ‘I am safe’. At the sacral chakra: ‘I am creative’. At the solar plexus: ‘I am energised.’ And so on up the seven chakras. This is calming and reminds you of your resources, which can make you more resilient when difficult emotions come knocking.
10) Kaizen for Emotional Insight
Tap and let your mind drift back over the day. You can speak stream-of-consciousness, acknowledging what happened. As you do this, invite in insight into what was emotionally difficult and why.
As you gain this insight, you can protect yourself from future issues, as well as releasing what happened in the moment, so that you are calmer and better able to manage your emotions without food.
There you have it! You now know what Kaizen is and can pick one of these 10 practices to shift your emotional eating over the next month. I’d love to hear how you find it…
