Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors

Trauma-Informed Practices to Nurture a Peaceful Relationship with Your Emotions, Body, and Food

By: Diane Petrella MSW, Donna Jackson Nakazawa - foreword

Narrated by: Diane Petrella MSW

If you've experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, your past trauma could affect how you care for yourself today. You may struggle with difficult thoughts and feelings, and reach for food to soothe your emotions when feeling sad, anxious, or stressed. You aren't alone.

Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors offers an innovative, trauma-informed approach to overcoming emotional eating using the principles of mindfulness, self-compassion, and neuroscience. With this gentle guide, you will gain a deeper understanding of your trauma, and discover alternative ways to soothe stress and difficult emotions when they show up. You'll also learn to shift your focus away from your weight, so you can cultivate a more loving connection with your body as you heal.

With this compassionate guide, you'll discover ways to: calm your anxious brain and body; safely process your emotions; transform self-punishment into self-compassion; practice self-forgiveness and overcome body shame; take your power back from trigger foods; and create an emotionally safe sanctuary with friends, family, and home. Most importantly, you'll find the support you need to end the cycle of emotional eating and release the weight of your trauma—so you can live with a greater sense of freedom and vitality.

©2023 Diane Petrella (P)2023 Tantor

I wish I’d had this years ago

Diane does an amazing job of explaining what’s behind and driving the behavior or emotional eating plus gives practical tools that anyone can use. You can tell the book is written with so much compassion and care for the reader and/or listener. I especially loved the client stories since I feel like I learn and comprehend concepts so much better through storytelling. This book would have saved me YEARS of anguish and self-punishment so I hope it does that for anyone struggling with emotional eating now.

Profoundly Compassionate

I have this book both in hard copy and in audible. Diane's voice is as much of a tool as her words. Reading the book will definitely open you up to your inner wisdom and help you find the compassion that we tend to lack with ourselves even if we are able to give it freely to others. However, I will highly endorse listening to the book as well or even better, allow Ms. Petrella to read to you so that you not only read the words, she will help you FEEL THE WORDS which is the key to emotional healing of all kinds and especially with eating. To have Ms. Petrella's voice escort you beyond the book will be another powerful tool this book and its ability to guide one to your inner research as to your "why's" and then help you find your way beyond them to a freeing and evolved way of being to enjoy eating which is a mainstay of life. I also love that Ms Petrella admits that one client helped her understand that food cannot be a one size fits all. I have always believed that people who never have been overweight or struggled with food cannot really understand the pain that is involved. To hear a therapist "HEAR" her client and then navigate this with her own wisdom gave me even more conidence in this approach to inner wisdom. It is often not what we do but how we perceive what we do. If we can change our perception of healthy eating , correct proportions and choices to not being deprived of comfort but actually taking comfort in taking CARE of ourselves, well then the whole equation takes on a new "flavor." I will say that for me, in this book , I discovered the biggest obstacle to my own success sometimes is my ruthlessness on myself. I have patience and tolerance of others, but none to myself and Ms. Petrella often takes a 'check in ' moment along the way to literally ask you "How are you doing?" I stopped to find myself digging into myself and suddenly stopping to allow myself to be able to be HUMAN!!! In all , this book is compassion at its finest to help you find that wisdom that you came to the planet with to lighten your soul, your heart and in doing so, also your body! Thank You Diane Petrella for a beautiful piece of kindness brought with words into our universe!

Easy to understand

I really liked this book, I'm motivated and inspired. I highly recommend this book to those who are struggling with trauma and emotional eating.

Beautiful important book

I deeply enjoyed listening, it was so deep and accessible, teaching delicately and patiently on such a complex subject.

Gentle yet powerful healing book

This book is so gentle and compassionate yet very powerful for healing emotional eating. The strategies and practices are clear and easy to follow. The author has a very soothing energy and helps you feel understood and nurtured in your journey toward healing. I highly recommend this book.