Did you know that empaths sometimes struggle with weight issues? While some struggle with being underweight, many empaths find themselves on the other end of the spectrum. There are a few different reasons this may be.
Empaths Can Be Emotional Eaters
Empaths who have not yet learned how to properly protect themselves from being impacted by other people’s energies can sometimes be overcome with anxiety or depression and begin looking for ways to comfort themselves. Sweet and fatty foods are pleasing to the taste buds, stimulating happy chemicals in the brain… while eating them. But later, you may feel ashamed, which can become a disordered eating cycle.
Empaths Often Suffer from Medical Problems
An alarming number of empaths suffer from medical problems that can cause weight gain, like hormonal issues, auto-immunity, PCOS, and food allergies. Several of these conditions cause inflammation and water retention, which may cause your body to hold on to some extra pounds. And if your hormones are off, your whole metabolic process gets a little wonky, causing you to accumulate more fat.
Exhaustion
Your brain doesn’t differentiate between physical stress and emotional stress. And as an empath, you spend a lot of time trying to ward off stress, be it your own or that of others. So by the end of the day, you could be too exhausted to even think about exercising. Not that a dozen or more people don’t need your attention first, anyways.
Not Identifying with the Physical Body
Some highly sensitive people (HSPs) see themselves as light beings trapped in a physical body they don’t belong in, and consequently, they may disassociate themselves from their physical bodies. This can also happen in reverse. There have been cases of empaths becoming way too thin to feel more like their lighter “true selves.”
A Few Good Tips for Empaths…
For empaths, weight gain may not have as much to do with food choices as it does for other people. It may be more of an emotional and spiritual battle. If you’re an empath, be patient and kind to yourself. Though sometimes it can be uncomfortable, you are here for a purpose.
Learn to recognize unhealthy eating patterns so they can be addressed. But instead of being hard on yourself, try shifting your perspective to love and of accepting your purpose as a light-bearing soul.
And allow that negative voice to drop down a notch so you can hear the empowered version of yourself a little better. This can help you feel safe and secure in your body and heart, as being positive affects us physically and mentally in all the best ways.