Why do we struggle with emotional eating?
1. Food is pleasurable. We associate food to pleasurable experiences, and when we’re happy we eat!
2. Stress. Stress can trigger cravings for junk food, like chocolate.
3. Distractions. Emotional eating can be a way of distracting you from something that’s really going on. Did you break up with a boyfriend and you want to forget about the pain? Enter food and distraction eating.
4. Entertainment. Preparing and eating food can pass the time. Boredom eating…
5. Links to the past. Certain foods and situations may remind you of your childhood. Maybe mac and cheese and donuts make you think of your childhood and trigger feel good vibes. Comfort eating…
How do we stop emotional eating?
1. Bring AWARENESS to your body. I think the first thing we need to do in order to STOP emotional eating for good is to recognize it for what it is. Every time you sit down to eat something, stop and bring awareness to your body. Are you hungry? Bored? Angry? Sad? If you are NOT truly hungry, put the food down. You need to deal with those emotions in another way.
2. Replace the eating with something else. Chew a piece of gum, make some tea, go for a walk, do something to take your mind off of it.
3. Keep a journal. This is what REALLY helped me when I was in college and dealing with emotional eating. EVERY time I ate I rated my hunger on a scale of 1-5, and at the end of the day I wrote how I did. Were there times I ate out of habit instead of hunger? (a big problem for me). Just by doing this one thing I lost 30 pounds in a semester without even trying, or realizing it.
4. Try a mind/body awareness practice like yoga. Connecting your body to your mind and your breathing can do wonders for understanding whats really going on with your body.
You CAN gain control over emotional eating. Recognize it for what it is, and believe that you can conquer it!
