Quiz: What's your eating style?

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2. The Mood Eater
This is a person who overeats in response to strong emotions. Often, the Mood Eater is an exquisitely sensitive individual who is very compassionate and empathetic with respect to other people. Mood Eaters are sensitive to other people's feelings and intuitively know when something is troubling another person. Often, the Mood Eater is employed in a helping profession, such as teaching, counseling, or medicine.

Mood Eaters are so engulfed by the emotions that they've absorbed from other people that their own feelings are sublimated or ignored. They may also feel overwhelmed by the prospect of adding their own strong emotions onto their already-full plate. So they eat in order to manage their emotional capacity.

Although Mood Eaters are highly capable caretakers of others, they sometimes neglect themselves altogether. Sometimes, this realization upsets Mood Eaters, as they realize that they are doing all the work, and no one is attending to their needs. At those times, the Mood Eater feels unappreciated and resentful. They take out their frustration in the best way they know how -- by eating.

Mood Eaters benefit by the methods outlined in the chapter on Extroverts (Chapter 7). Since Mood Eaters are externally oriented -- focusing more on other people than on themselves -- they can tune into their own feelings and become more inner-directed by interpreting their food cravings as they arise.

Think your moods are perimenopausal? Click here for natural approaches to living with perimenopause.

3. The Self-Esteem Eater
This is someone who uses food as a friend, a companion, and for entertainment. The Self-Esteem Eater has difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Often, Self-Esteem Eaters relate better to food, books, animals, and movies than they do to other people. They feel misunderstood and have been hurt by people who rejected or abandoned them. Many Self-Esteem Eaters are survivors of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, and they learned in early childhood to distrust others.

Much of the Self-Esteem Eaters' struggle with food and weight stems from three issues:

a) They can't bear the thought of losing their closest friend -- food.
The thought of giving up the overeating of ice cream, cookies, or cheeseburgers makes them feel cold and vulnerable. If they aren't able to use food for comfort, companionship, and solace, who or what can they turn to?

b) They have little confidence in their ability to lead a healthful lifestyle.
The Self-Esteem Eater is usually well read and informed about the importance of healthful eating and exercise. Their library may be stocked with health books. Yet they don't believe that they have the stamina or patience to consistently exercise. So they don't even try.

c) They beat themselves up by going on eating binges.
Self-Esteem Eaters struggle with the fourth FATS feeling: Shame. They question their self-worth, and deep down they wonder if something is wrong with them. During these times, they punish themselves by eating to the point where their stomach hurts. Self-Esteem Eaters don't believe that they deserve the benefits of having a fit and healthy body.

Self-Esteem Eaters benefit more from appropriate psychotherapy than from any particular style of eating. This is not to imply that something is wrong with Self-Esteem Eaters; rather, they just have the most to gain from this type of treatment.

Therapy will most likely be the first experience they have being emotionally vulnerable in front of another human being -- that is, a skilled therapist. But when Self-Esteem Eaters find that the therapist doesn't reject them for being who they are, they will be able to connect with other people in their life. They can then develop friendships with people, and stop relying on food for companionship and comfort.

Self-Esteem Eaters also benefit from food-craving interpretation as a way of becoming more honest with themselves. When they face the truth behind the meaning of their food cravings, it's a first step toward easing the loneliness that haunts them. Self-honesty always increases one's self-esteem, and food-craving interpretation is a productive way of honestly coming to terms with parts of ourselves we may be afraid of facing.

Click here for 5 tips to boost your self-esteem.

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