Phase 3: Making Your Shift
MAP: Appetite, Perspective
Trauma and PTSD rewire your nervous system's threat response, creating a physiological state that drives overeating as protection. Your body isn't broken—it's responding exactly as designed to perceived danger, using food to regulate an overactive stress system.
How this headwind creates over fueling:
Trauma fundamentally alters how your brain and body manage stress. When you've experienced trauma, your nervous system gets stuck in Red Mind—that state of heightened alertness we've discussed throughout The Shift—constantly scanning for danger, even when you're safe.
This chronic activation triggers a cascade of metabolic changes. Your body releases stress hormones like cortisol, which directly promotes fat storage, especially around your midsection. These same hormones drive intense cravings for high-calorie, high-carbohydrate foods—not because you lack willpower, but because your brain is desperately seeking quick energy to fuel its perceived emergency state.
Think of it like keeping your engine revving at high rates even while parked. This constant Red Mind state burns through your regulatory resources, making Above Water eating particularly challenging just when you need it most.
What's especially important to understand is that these responses happen Below Water. Your body isn't betraying you—it's trying to protect you using the tools it has available. Food, especially Exciting foods high in fat and sugar, temporarily dampens this overactive stress response by stimulating your body's natural calming systems. This creates a powerful association between eating and emotional relief.
This headwind often operates alongside Sleep Disruption and Mood Disorders, creating a perfect storm of appetite dysregulation.
Signs you’re facing this headwind:
You're likely battling this headwind if:
You notice patterns of eating Below Water to numb uncomfortable emotions or memories
Food feels like your primary or only effective way to shift from Red Mind to Blue Mind
You experience eating episodes that feel disconnected from your conscious awareness
Your hunger and fullness cues seem unreliable or extreme
You avoid certain foods, eating situations, or body sensations that trigger distress
This headwind often intensifies during anniversaries of traumatic events, periods of high stress, or exposure to trauma-related triggers. Many people report that evening eating becomes particularly difficult, as this is when the nervous system's protective vigilance naturally decreases.
Tacking strategies:
Use POP Before Emotional Eating: When you feel the urge to eat in response to emotions, practice the POP technique you learned in Phase 3 (Pause, Observe, Proceed). This creates space between trigger and response.
Consider this tactic: Place visual reminders of POP in locations where emotional eating typically occurs.
Connect to Your Values: Review the values you identified in Phase 1. When facing trauma-triggered eating urges, ask which actions align with those values.
Consider this tactic: Create a small card with your top three values to keep near areas where you typically eat.
Strengthen Your Set Up, Size Up, Step Out: For trauma survivors, establishing predictable eating routines creates safety. Use the three-step Shift System (Set Up, Size Up, Step Out) with extra attention to the Set Up phase.
Consider this tactic: Make your eating environment as consistent and comforting as possible to signal safety to your nervous system.
Explore Vagal Therapy Options: Trauma impacts your vagus nerve, which controls your shift between Red Mind and Blue Mind. Techniques like deep humming, cold water on your face, or professional transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) can help regulate this system.
Consider this tactic: Practice a simple 4-7-8 breath pattern (inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8) before meals to activate your vagus nerve.
Success looks like:
Healing the relationship between trauma and eating happens in stages, not all at once. Within the first few weeks, you'll simply become more aware of the connection between Red Mind states and eating patterns. Within 1-3 months of consistent practice, you'll notice more time spent in Blue Mind while eating, giving you more choice in how you respond.
Track these indicators in your Captain's Log:
Times when you moved from Below Water to Above Water eating using your tools
Successful use of the POP technique to create space before emotional eating
Changes in your body's stress responses (heart rate, breathing, muscle tension)
Gradual shifts in how quickly you can return to Blue Mind after stress
Celebrate small wins like being able to pause for even a few seconds before emotional eating, or noticing earlier when you're slipping from Blue Mind into Red Mind. Success isn't measured by never using food for comfort—it's about expanding your options so food isn't your only or primary pathway to Blue Mind.
Important self-management tools for this headwind:
National Center for PTSD (USA): Comprehensive, evidence-based information and self-help resources. [Link]
Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH): Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital offers trauma resources and services. [Link]
The Body Keeps the Score Network: Resources based on Dr. Bessel van der Kolk's groundbreaking work on trauma and the body. [Link]
Vagal Therapy Resources: The Polyvagal Institute offers education and practitioner directories for vagal nerve therapies. [Link]
Today I’ll:
Practice the POP technique before my next meal to shift from Red Mind to Blue Mind. I'll pause, take a deep breath, observe my current state without judgment, and then proceed with intention. I'll note in my Captain's Log (or use The Shift Summary tool) what I notice about my hunger, wanting, and how effectively this helped me eat Above Water.