Free From Guilt

Do You Mentally Berate Yourself After Eating Too Much Or Not Exercising Enough? Jo Hartley Tells How To Combat Those Negative Feelings, Accept What’s Important And Discard What Isn’t.

- Jo Hartley

We all carry a certain amount of guilt baggage. There’s the ‘I’m not spending enough time with my kids’ suitcase, the ‘I should have put in more hours at work’ hold-all and the ‘I shouldn’t have said no to that invite’ handbag. And then, there’s all the lifestyle guilt we lug around too.

Food guilt, exercise guilt, alcohol guilt, and even relaxation guilt. It’s a neverending cycle. But is this guilt negatively impacting our wellbeing and sabotaging our goals for good health? According to research it could be.

One study found that feeling bad about what we’re eating causes our brain to transmit negative signals. The result? A slower metabolic rate and digestion and an increase in calories being stored as fat rather than burnt for energy.

Similarly, other studies have shown that guilt can lead to stress and depression, which can manifest in physical symptoms such as headaches, a decreased immune system and a lack of motivation. One expert believes that guilt is a “destroyer of emotional energy”, leaving you feeling “immobilised”.

Psychologist, Dr Marny Lishman agrees. She says that guilt can hurt us in so many ways, affecting our ability to think straight, problem solve and make good decisions. It also inhibits relaxation and creativity.

“I think that health-related guilt is fuelled by society’s expectations about what’s good or bad for us,” says Dr Lishman. “The problem with this guilt is that it can cause us to increase our unhealthy behaviours to cope with the negative emotions. We can quickly get ourselves into an unhealthy spiral.”

So, how do we avoid the guilt trap to accomplish a healthy balance?

Food guilt