Do you ever eat when you're not hungry? Do you ever eat without realizing that you are eating? Do you often eat alone, whether at home, in you car or elsewhere? Do you crave specific foods when you are feeling down, pasta, fries, chips, chocolate, ice cream? Does eating when you're down make you feel better or less focussed on your problems? Do you feel guilty or ashamed afterward? Do you eat because you feel like there is nothing else to do? If you answered yes to any of the above questions chances are pretty good that you have a tendency to let your emotions dictate what, and how much you eat.
Emotional eating is much like any addiction, but instead of turning to drugs or alcohol to remove you from reality, you turn to food for comfort. Whether done consciously or unconsciously, you're strongest tendencies to overeat will happen when you are at your weakest point emotionally. In effort to suppress or soothe negative feelings, emotional eaters binge when they are sad, angry, anxious, bored, confused, lonely or upset. Things like health problems, break ups, arguments, unemployment and financial uncertainties are all common triggers. Others may not be so obvious; daily life hassles, waiting in long line ups, pressuring deadlines, stressful driving conditions, bad weather, re-locating and changes in your daily routine can also affect your emotions negatively. This might not be so bad if you were binging on a vegetables, eating too many carrots or too much salad. Unfortunately, most often the foods that feed emotions are high calorie, sweet, salty and fatty foods that will sabotage any weight loss efforts.
Emotional eating is a vicious cycle of self sabotage. While you're eating, your focus is on food, distracting you from what's really bothering you. But the distraction is only temporary. When you're done over eating, your focus will return to your problems and whats worse is now you will be dealing with an added stress; the guilt of over eating. Unhealthy overeating leads not only to weight gain but to a destructive pattern of anxiety and self loathing that's tough to break on your own.
Alike any addiction, beating emotional eating can be a terribly difficult thing to do. The first step to over coming the gravitational pull towards food when your upset is understanding why you want to eat. Identify the things that make you feel pressured, sad, angry or anxious. Once you understand your triggers, you can break the cycle and start regaining control of when, why and how you eat. Acknowledge the feeling(s) that you are trying to avoid, as painful as they may be, for you will never get past what you are feeling until you "let it be". It's perfectly normal to have negative feelings, it's an un-avoidable part of life. Whether you allow yourself feel them or not will determine how the feelings will affect you. Consider a the old bandaid analogy: you can rip it off in one quick pull, and there will be pain, it will hurt for a short time but before you know it the hurt passes. The other, less desirable option is to slowly peel the bandaid back, bit by bit, taking small breaks, aggravating every millimeter of the affected area, drawing it out, making the painful experience last much longer. Emotional eating makes the experience last much longer and often times you never actually "get the bandaid off". Dealing with your feelings is step one. Face your issues. Bring them out of your subconscious and into your conscious reality. Accept that you are angry, lonely, stressed out or upset. Try to figure out why you feel the way you do and take steps towards solving the problem. If you can't do it on your own, see someone, a councillor or a therapist. It is their job to help people get through tough times, accept and deal with negative emotions, better understand themselves, the world around them and move on. If you don't deal with the root, the cause of the problem, you will never be able to move through the feelings that it brought on.
Although getting to the root of the problem and dealing with what bothers you is the biggest part of overcoming emotional eating the following tips will help:
Look elsewhere for comfort. Instead of reaching for the ice cream pale or the cookie jar, have a cup of tea, take a walk, phone a friend, watch a movie, listen to music, read or hit the gym.
Take ten minutes to pass. When you have a craving, accept it but don't act on it. Generally with emotional eating, the problem comes when people act immediately on a craving. It you give yourself some time to "think it through" it will pass. Curb cravings with flavoured herbal tea, they are healthy, tasty and will satisfy your oral fixations.
Don't bring junk food home. If it's not there, you can't eat it. If you are craving something un-healthy, you will be less likely to eat it if you have to go to the store to get it.
Make the TV room a "no food allowed" zone. So many people sit and eat mindlessly in front of the television. Avoid over eating by sitting down at the table and eating.
Always leave something on your plate. Even if it's just one bite. This reminds you that you are in control of the food, not the other way around. A little bit of empowerment can go a long way!
Eat right. If you aren't getting what you need from your diet you will be much more likely to emotional eating. Always eat breakfast following which eat a small meal every three to four hours. Your diet should consist of lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Exercise and sleep. When you are working out and sleeping regularly you feel better and are able to better deal with stresses.
Make a healthy choice. If you must "fill the void" have fruit, vegetables with dip, or unbuttered air popped popcorn.
Stacy Lynn Zeman
Personal Trainer & Group Fitness Instructor
[http://www.thefitnessclubkelowna.com]
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