How to use TEA to stop overeating.

Betcha you thought I was going to give you some weird diet tip about tea being an appetite suppressant or something like that.

Yeah… that’s a no.

But I do want to talk to you about Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions… or TEA if you prefer.

One of the fundamental principles I use in my coaching, teaching, and programs comes from Cognitive Behavioural Psychology, which teaches that our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings drive our actions. 

They call it the Think Feel Act (TFA) cycle or the Think Feel Do (TFD) cycle.

I call it TEA (Thought Emotion Action) since I often use the word Emotion instead of feeling (plus I used to drink green tea while I stuffed my face full of donuts… balance y’all 🤪).

So something happens and we have a thought about it (usually more than one). The thought triggers a chemical cocktail in your brain that becomes an emotion in your body. Then that emotion drives our action/s or inaction/s.

Let’s play it out with an example you can probably relate to.

If you’re like me you probably believe you can’t control yourself around food (I don’t believe that anymore but stay with me). 

You’re going about your day and someone brings a box of donuts back from lunch and offers you one. If you believe you can’t control yourself around food you have a thought like “If I start eating I won’t be able to stop, I have no self-control.” 

That thought creates an emotion. Not a useful one. Whenever I thought that I would feel hopeless.

That emotion then drives your action/s. When I felt hopeless I would eat. I would also beat myself up and start having other crappy thoughts about myself, my overeating, and my life in general. Which all felt equally terrible, driving even more eating.

This is a really basic example but shows us how our overeating “happens” and the importance of paying attention to and understanding our emotions and the role they play.

So if you want to stop overeating, perhaps it’s time for TEA.