Emotional Eating

I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately.   Mostly because I have truly recognized my emotional eating habits.   It's a much tougher habit for someone to break than they might think.

Emotional eating happens when we are looking for comfort.  It typically is a fairly private event, and doesn't always happen in front of someone.   You aren't necessarily hiding what you are eating or sitting in a closet or behind close doors.  This is not like binge eating either.   You may not be eating non-stop for a period of time, but rather are reaching for food outside your eating plan or normal diet.

I would say there is a large percent of us who have emotional eating habits in this world of ours.   Recognizing that you have them is step one.  Figuring out how to deal with the issue or stress that is driving you to your emotional eating event can be tough.

Why is it tough?  Well if you normally reach for food when stress or anxiety is high, you have immediate comfort.  You may have extreme guilt after or perhaps the next day, from whatever it was that you ate, but you found comfort in that moment.

For all you emotional eaters, imagine having a stressful moment, day or situation.   Your instincts tell you to find comfort.  Let's say you have recognized that you want to eat something to make yourself feel better, feel less anxiety or stress.   What do you do?  There are many other things you can do.  We've all heard these before... Go on a walk, go workout, take a hot bath (I can't remember the last time I soaked in a bathtub), read a book, etc.   What works for one person, my not work for someone else.   You have to figure out what works for you.

I sit and listen to what it is that I really need and in most cases, it's someone to talk to, to be able to unload my stress or anxiety with.   So I either reach out to a friend or I write all my feelings down and believe it or not, I've found more comfort and less calories and guilt in that method, than food.

Seek to understand why you are stressed or feeling anxious and ask yourself what you need to feel better.  Food does not heal stress or anxiety.  In fact, it can sometimes add to those feelings if you are trying to maintain your weight.

Until next time...