Emotional Eating
Did you know that emotional eating
We tend to use food to soothe or suppress negative emotions such as loneliness, sadness, anger, stress and even boredom. Eating comfort foods can help temporarily, but then later you find that it has created a another problem and that is weight gain.
I’m sure you have wondered why negative emotions lead to overeating. One of the main reasons is that the food serves as a distraction and the fact that it tastes good kind of puts the emotions back in sync by giving you pleasure. Therefore, when we get upset one of the first things we go for is something like chocolate, ice cream or maybe pizza. Emotional eating can become a serious issue unless you catch it before it becomes a habit.
There are several things you can do to stop emotional eating
* Don’t keep junk food available. Definitely don’t do grocery shopping when upset.
* Look somewhere else for comfort. Call a friend, read, see a movie etc.
* Keep healthy snacks close at hand. Veggies and low fat dip and fresh fruit.
* Know your triggers. Figure out what they are and avoid them.
* Recognize type of hunger. Is it emotional hunger or physical?
* Exercise regularly and get enough sleep.
* Eat a good balanced diet, don’t skip meals.
Even with these suggestions you may end up falling off the wagon. Don’t put yourself on a guilt trip over it, but start fresh again the next day. Do your best to learn something from it so that you can prevent it in the future. Focus on the positive changes you make in your eating habits and not the negative and see how much better you feel each day.
To find out more on emotional eating read this book Breaking Free from Emotional Eating