Coping With Emotional Eating
You're tired, overworked, under a lot of stress, just had an argument or are feeling sad lonely.
You head to the cupboard to get a snack and before you know it you've eaten an entire package of cookies.
A lot of times when emotions get out of control it can be easy to try to comfort yourself and cope by eating.
Food offers feelings of comfort and security and can melt away stress, dull the pain of life and make it seem easier to cope.
However, just like a drug, emotional eating can get out of control and can lead to obesity and the serious health consequences that go along with it.
If you find yourself eating to comfort yourself instead of eating when you are hungry there are several things you can do to break the cycle and get your eating habits back under control.
By learning to cope with your emotions in a healthy way instead of hiding behind food you will feel better, look better, be healthier and feel more in control of your life.
Here are some tips on dealing with emotional eating.
One of the first things you need to do to combat emotional eating is to figure out what your triggers are and what causes you to overindulge.
Try keeping a food journal to write down what you eat.
The key to having a journal help you is to be totally honest in it and to record not only what you eat and when you eat it, but also how you are feeling when you eat.
Look for patterns in your eating habits and how they relate to the activities of your day.
For instance, you may notice that you always overeat right when you get off work because you are feeling stressed out.
Or perhaps you eat late at night because you are feeling lonely.
Acknowledging the emotions and situations that cause you to reach for food will help you to start recognizing them when they come up and will make it easier to be prepared to keep yourself from overeating.
If you do feel a binge coming on try distracting yourself with another activity.
Most cravings pass quickly, so if you can make it through 20-30 minutes without reaching for food you can most likely avoid binging.
Good distractions include going for a walk, cleaning a room in your house, calling a friend or reading.
Set aside one room in your home where you are allowed to eat and make all of the other rooms off limits for eating.
Make sure that when you eat it is the only thing you are doing and that you don't eat in front of the TV.
Distractions make it much easier to overindulge so by focusing only on eating when you do you will be more likely to keep your food intake in check and stay on track.
If you do slip up and fall back into emotional eating for an evening, don't beat yourself up.
Instead, focus on why it happened and what triggered it, then forgive yourself and get back on track.
One slip up doesn't mean that you are a failure.
Be kind and gentle with yourself and understand that habits take time to change.
By staying dedicated and working to get to the core issues you will be able to overcome your emotional eating and enjoy a healthier, happier lifestyle.
You head to the cupboard to get a snack and before you know it you've eaten an entire package of cookies.
A lot of times when emotions get out of control it can be easy to try to comfort yourself and cope by eating.
Food offers feelings of comfort and security and can melt away stress, dull the pain of life and make it seem easier to cope.
However, just like a drug, emotional eating can get out of control and can lead to obesity and the serious health consequences that go along with it.
If you find yourself eating to comfort yourself instead of eating when you are hungry there are several things you can do to break the cycle and get your eating habits back under control.
By learning to cope with your emotions in a healthy way instead of hiding behind food you will feel better, look better, be healthier and feel more in control of your life.
Here are some tips on dealing with emotional eating.
One of the first things you need to do to combat emotional eating is to figure out what your triggers are and what causes you to overindulge.
Try keeping a food journal to write down what you eat.
The key to having a journal help you is to be totally honest in it and to record not only what you eat and when you eat it, but also how you are feeling when you eat.
Look for patterns in your eating habits and how they relate to the activities of your day.
For instance, you may notice that you always overeat right when you get off work because you are feeling stressed out.
Or perhaps you eat late at night because you are feeling lonely.
Acknowledging the emotions and situations that cause you to reach for food will help you to start recognizing them when they come up and will make it easier to be prepared to keep yourself from overeating.
If you do feel a binge coming on try distracting yourself with another activity.
Most cravings pass quickly, so if you can make it through 20-30 minutes without reaching for food you can most likely avoid binging.
Good distractions include going for a walk, cleaning a room in your house, calling a friend or reading.
Set aside one room in your home where you are allowed to eat and make all of the other rooms off limits for eating.
Make sure that when you eat it is the only thing you are doing and that you don't eat in front of the TV.
Distractions make it much easier to overindulge so by focusing only on eating when you do you will be more likely to keep your food intake in check and stay on track.
If you do slip up and fall back into emotional eating for an evening, don't beat yourself up.
Instead, focus on why it happened and what triggered it, then forgive yourself and get back on track.
One slip up doesn't mean that you are a failure.
Be kind and gentle with yourself and understand that habits take time to change.
By staying dedicated and working to get to the core issues you will be able to overcome your emotional eating and enjoy a healthier, happier lifestyle.
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