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This article is available in Spanish. Go to the Spanish translation.
I’ve tried tapping on food cravings in the past without success, but recently while tapping I had a bit of an AHA moment, which I thought I’d share in case it might be of use to anyone else.
I’m in the process of changing my diet and it is resulting in some food cravings. The first few days I couldn’t shift the cravings at all with tapping. Then a few days ago I found myself tapping in a different way and it was really effective. I realized that in the past I have been tapping basically with a whole lot of judgment. Even though I’ve been saying the “Even though I’m craving this food I deeply and completely love and accept myself,” the bottom line has been that I don’t accept myself at all – I’m judging myself big time for even having the craving.
What finally shifted the cravings (and so far they haven’t returned!) was total acceptance of the fact that I wanted the foods. I tapped with things like:
Even though I REALLY want to eat X, I give myself permission to crave this food
Even though I SO want to eat X, I allow myself to dream about eating it.
Even though I REALLY want to eat X, I want to eat a whole bowl and then another one, I give myself permission to want to eat as much as I want.
Then I tapped through the points getting really graphic about exactly what I wanted to eat and how much. In doing so the energy shifted and I realized that the cravings were largely coming from a feeling of being deprived of the particular foods I wanted to eat. When I gave myself permission to really want and crave the foods, that part of me must have no longer felt deprived and so no longer wanted the unhealthy foods I’d been craving.
The power of “and I love and accept myself” is so great, but we really can deceive ourselves at times just saying it and not seeing the judgment we are really feeling.
Jo Hainsworth
New Zealand
From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on January 23, 2010.
JoAnn SkyWatcher says
Jo,
Great post! When we are lying to ourself, our subconscious knows it. I think EFT works miracles when we get down to the truth. You got the deepest truth for you (without judgement), and you writing in capital letters means that you were emphasizing those words? I, too, find it helpful to be emphatic!
Congratulations!!!
Gratefully yours,
JoAnn
Patricia Hope says
= Jo, what a great idea to give ourselves permission to crave the food. Last year I didn’t tap on my craving for chocolate because I didn’t want to give up the chocolate. I ended up eating the bar that I’d bought to help me tap on the problem.
– Marion, Like you I often pray before tapping to get the maximum benefit and to be directed to the core issues. I also say mantras whilst tapping. (http://www.thesummitlighthouse.org/Violet-Flame/index.html)
– Klaus, I totally agree that diet can eliminate cravings due to be satiated with the correct metabolic foods for your body. I did the test on Dr Mercola’s site and am a protein type. If I don’t have the correct balance between fat/protein/carbs on my plate I start to crave carbs.
Patricia Hope
Klaus says
While food cravings may have a psychological background, the can have a biological, too. When eating the right foods for your metabolic type, you can eliminate the cravings. EFT is a wonderful tool to tap away them away, but a craving is an indicator that the body isn’t getting what it needs (especially enough protein and fats). I have so often read about EFT in connection with food/weight/dietary problems and almost all the time there isn’t mentioned about the diet one person is eating.
Foods affect the mood from a biological standpoint, too. For more information on a customized diet, have a look at Metabolic Typing. MT relies on a custom diet for each and everyone, which is the only right diet as we are all different. EFT might be helpful to address the problems when changing eating habits, but it would be shortsighted to use it to stifle cravings without having a look at the food one is eating.
marion says
i also find this article very helpful. i am a newbie at eft (6+month) and it seems that i am learning eft intuitively. i tap almost every day, after i have prayed. i like your creative methods about the setup statement. there are so many possibilities of truly verbalizing one’s emotions, that it seems only logic to follow one’s intuition. now that i see that you do it as well this way, i feel encouraged to follow my personal inspirations more. prayer really helps me to put my set-up statements together. God always tells me what to tap for! eft is great!
Odra Trujillo says
What you resist persists, your idea will be very helpful.
Thanks
Jane Besmehn says
Giving yourself permission to crave, or to feel what ever it is you’re feeling… what a concept! Giving permission doesn’t automatically mean one is going to follow the craving and it may actually empower one to “make a choice.” So the idea is to move away from denial into acceptance and truly love and accept one’s self where ever they are.
What I have found is that this is a continuous process of peeling away the layers. With each layer I have peeled away, I feel more freedom in movement and more confidence and the insights just keep coming. Each layer peeled away enables me to reach the actions and insights the next layer has to offer.
Really good article. Thanks for sharing your experience!