5. Stress Eating Meditation: 3 Minutes to Calm Your Cravings

Send Ashlee a text!

The three-minute meditation for stress and emotional eating shared in this episode provides a powerful tool to break free from the diet cycle and develop a healthier relationship with food. This guided practice helps create space between emotions and eating behaviors through mindful breathing and self-compassion.

• Finding a comfortable position and relaxing your forehead to reduce tension
• Taking deep breaths to center yourself and return to the present moment
• Observing your feelings without judgment to understand emotional triggers
• Using affirmations like "I am in control of my choices"
• Placing a hand on your heart to practice self-compassion
• Repeating the mantra "I am calm, capable and in control"
• Returning to this meditation whenever you need to pause and reset

Connect with Ashlee:

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Resources:

Download the Top 10 Dieting Mistakes Keeping You Stuck

30 Days of Done for You Meals and Recipes

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Step Off the Scale, the podcast where we
are redefining health andhappiness beyond the numbers.
I am your host, ashley Wright,a dietician for over a decade,
mom of two and craft beer lover.
Together, we'll say goodbye torestrictive diets and learn
simple strategies to help youactually enjoy your food again
without guilt.

(00:20):
Now let's dive in togetherwithout guilt.
Now let's dive in together.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of Step Off the Scale.
I am so excited to be here withyou today and if you're new
here, I want to welcome you andtell you that you are freaking
awesome, and if you love thisepisode that I'm about to share

(00:41):
with you today, send it to afriend.
I am on a mission to help asmany women as I can get off of
the dieting cycle that they areso incredibly tired of and have
a healthier relationship withfood, so if you would share it
with somebody, I would be everso grateful, and you are sending
a blessing to them.
One cool thing that I want toshare with you before we get

(01:02):
into today's episode is that youcan actually text me.
In the show notes that you seebelow, you'll see this little
link that says send Ashley atext.
It comes right to me and I readthem all and it's so exciting.
I got my first text from alistener that read this is
fabulous, love what you're doing, keep it up.
The first three are fire,emojis and claps.
If you are the person out therelistening right now who sent

(01:24):
this to me, you are wonderfuland you made my whole week.
So if you're listening and youwant to go ahead and send me a
text, I would love to hear fromyou.
Today I have something special Iwanted to share with you.
I recorded this meditation forstress eating and emotional
eating quite a while back.
It's part of my stress eatingsurvival kit that I put together

(01:45):
, which you can get more info onthat in the show notes, and
meditation has been somethingthat has been so incredibly
helpful to me and, quite frankly, has changed my life, and I
wanted to share this with youtoday.
So you have a meditation to goto when you're having those days
where you're just superfrustrated with food.
You're having those momentswhere you're stress eating or

(02:07):
emotional eating is kicking inmore than you'd like it to.
So just know that there'salways a way to come back to
center, and I wanted to sharethis meditation with you today,
so that way, you can always havesomething to go back to
whenever you need it.
So give it a listen.
I hope you enjoy the meditation.
Go back to whenever you need it.
So give it a listen.

(02:28):
I hope you enjoy the meditation.
Welcome to your stress eatingguided meditation.
Today we're going to do a threeminute meditation together and
I'm going to walk you througheverything.
So no worries.
But all you need to do is justlisten to my prompts, and I
promise you it'll be much easierthan you think it is going to
be.
So here's what we need to do isjust listen to my prompts, and
I promise you it'll be mucheasier than you think it is
going to be.
So here's what we need to do.

(02:50):
Begin by finding a comfortableposition.
You can sit in a chair, on thefloor or even lie down Whatever
feels best for you.
Once you're settled, gentlyclose your eyes.
One trick that I have foundworks really well for me is if I
think about relaxing myforehead.
So whenever you start to feelthose moments of stress, focus

(03:13):
on relaxing your forehead, and Ipromise you it will definitely
help.
So what we want to do next istake a deep breath in through
your nose, hold it for a momentand then slowly exhale through
your mouth.
Let's do that two more times.
Breathe in deeply and slowlyexhale One more time, in through

(03:39):
your nose and out through yourmouth.
Now allow your breath to returnto a natural rhythm.
Just notice how it feels as theair moves just in and out of
your body.
Feel the gentle rise and fallof your chest and the sensation
of your breath calming you asyou breathe, begin to relax your

(04:02):
forehead.
Notice any tension there and,as you exhale, release it.
Let the muscles around youreyes soften, relax your jaw.
Drop your shoulders away fromyour ears and just let your body
settle.
Now bring your attention on howyou're feeling right now,

(04:23):
without judgment.
We just are observing.
We just are observing.
Are you feeling stressed,anxious?
Are you craving something?
Did something crazy happen atwork today?
Whatever it is, it's okay.
All we're doing right now isjust noticing it.
If thoughts arise, gentlyacknowledge them and let them

(04:45):
pass by, just like the clouds inthe sky pass by.
Now come back to your breath.
Each breath is an opportunityto ground yourself and return to
this moment.
Now silently repeat to yourselfI am in control of my choices.
I release the need to turn tofood for comfort, the need to

(05:14):
turn to food for comfort.
I am capable of managing mystress.
With each inhale, breathe incalmness and, with each exhale,
release the stress or tensionthat you're holding in your body
.
Imagine that that stress isleaving you with every out
breath and it's just dissolvingup into the air.
Now place a hand on your heart,feel the warmth of your hand.
This is a moment to showyourself compassion.

(05:38):
Say to yourself I am human andit's okay to experience cravings
and emotions.
I release the guilt around foodand emotional eating.
Take another deep breath in,hold it for a second and exhale,

(05:59):
letting go of any remainingtension, and know that in this
moment, you are calm, capableand in control.
Say it again I am calm, capableand in control.
Slowly begin to wiggle yourfingers, wiggle your toes and,

(06:21):
when you're ready, open youreyes, take one last deep breath.
One last deep breath, feelinglighter, calmer and more
centered.
You can return to thismeditation any time you need to
pause, reset and manage yourstress eating.

(06:42):
This meditation is meant tohelp you reduce your stress and
help you with emotional eatingin just a few minutes, and it
helps you with more mindfulnessand self-compassion, so return
to it whenever you need to.
Thank you so much for spendingyour time with me today on Step

(07:03):
Off the Scale.
I know that life can be crazybusy and I truly appreciate you
taking the time to be here withme today.
And just a quick reminder thatyour worth is not defined by a
number on the scale and youdon't need to follow restrictive
diet rules to feel good in yourbody.
You deserve to feel freedom,confidence and a life where
eating feels easy again.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, I'd love for you to

(07:26):
subscribe, leave a review orshare it with a friend who needs
to hear it.
Your support means the world tome and it helps this message
reach more women who are readyto break free from diet culture
and live a happier life in theirown body.
Take good care of yourself andI'll see you next time.