New Ways To Respond To Food FOMO

FOMO was first popularized in 2004 and means fear of missing out. FOMO can play out in our relationship with food as the fear of missing out on tastes, textures, certain foods around specific times of year, or the pleasure from a food.

Often, the moment of Food FOMO has little to do with the food itself and more to do with the attachment and meaning we have put on that food. The experience of Food FOMO is then perpetuated by the sensations of fear in the body.

Let's break down Food FOMO. I want you to think of a moment where you were trying to decide whether or not to eat a certain food. Maybe you were at a restaurant and actually physically hungry and trying to decide which meal to get. Maybe you were at a party and all sorts of different foods were being served. Maybe it was a holiday situation and everyone was participating in the festivity by eating.

If you can remember, what kinds of things were you thinking? Some things might have been:

• If I don't eat this now, I'm never going to have another chance to eat it.

• Everyone else is eating, I want to eat too.

• I'm really curious what that tastes like.

• It's not fair. Everyone else gets to eat that. Why don't I?

The focus here is often on the food and the experience of eating regardless of how the body is feeling in the moment. First, you get to invite in curiosity about what some part of you believes it will receive from that food. If you eat in community, do you believe eating that food will support you in feeling more connected? If there is a food you have never tried before, do you believe eating that food will quench your sense of curiosity? If you eat a food you don't normally eat, are you expecting to receive a sense of pleasure, relaxation, or calm?

It isn't really about the food yet rather what you believe you will receive from eating that food.

There is no right or wrong action here. If you're curious what a new food tastes like, you absolutely get to decide to eat a food you have never had before and would feel bummed if you missed out on trying. Awareness is key here. If you have already decided to eat a food AND are also denying yourself the experience you want to have with that food, that is when overeating and binge eating can occur. You keep eating to try to get the experience you wanted to have with that food to begin with. By allowing yourself to receive the pleasure, satiated curiosity, community, and connection you wanted to experience in your body with that food you won't have to keep eating to get it as you gave it to yourself from the first bite.

The next thing that needs to be addressed is the experience of fear in your body. FOMO starts with fear. The presence of fear can be telling your body that you're in danger and there is something threatening in your environment. Your cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate all increase. The part of your brain, the cerebral cortex, which facilitates reasoning and judgment, becomes impaired. This affects your ability to think clearly and make decisions. The thought of eating food becomes even more powerful as eating is something that can produce dopamine and endorphins making you feel better.

As soon as you experience fear, your amygdala is the part of your brain that is involved in this bodily cascade of responses. The amygdala is also involved in regulating appetite. With your decision-making processes dampened, a food you normally wouldn't eat or wouldn't consume in large amounts comes in to support you in regulating your body. When you start to notice feeling panicked and an increasing urge to reach for food, the body needs to be attended to first before making a food decision. This is why when healing your relationship with food, it's not about willpower or thinking you're weak. The situations where you're choosing food in what feels like an unconscious or disconnected way is an attempt to support yourself in regulating a dysregulated nervous system and supporting you in feeling safe.

One way to begin regulating yourself before reaching for food is orienting yourself to the present moment.

Identify 2-3 things in the here and now that you can recognize as safety producing. This might be focusing on your breath, this could be naming something in your environment, this might be going and holding someone's hand if available, this could be going through your senses to experience the safety in the here and now. Supporting your body in shifting into a relaxation response can tell your brain everything is alright where you can make an empowered food decision. Food FOMO can then be much easier to navigate when you feel calm, safe, and connected.

If you're curious and interested to begin incorporating Somatic Eating™ practices into your day, my Intro to Somatic Eating™ mini course is still 50% off. The Somatic Eating™ tools you will learn in this mini course will guide you toward the embodiment needed to hear and interpret your body's messages to feel more attuned and connected. If you have any questions, email me at support@stephaniemara.com anytime.