Are We Emotionally Eating???

Be honest. Are you always hungry when you eat? Or, like most of us, do you sometimes use food as a comfort or distraction when you’re anxious, angry or upset?

Often when we talk about emotional eating, we’re thinking of people using food to deal with issues or stress. But happiness is also an emotion, and many of us also eat when we’re happy—at parties, and when we’re with family.

Occasionally turning to food to celebrate or forget your troubles doesn’t mean you have a problem. But letting your emotions dictate what and when you eat can hurt your fat loss efforts while leaving other issues in your life unresolved.

4 ways to tell if I am Emotionally Eating? 

 1. You eat when you are not physically hungry. Consider      how long ago it was since you ate. Was it 3 hours ago or a half hour? Is your body sending you any clear signals that you are hungry? Is your stomach grumbling? Are you low in energy?

“ I find that if I do not eat the right types of foods though-out the day, my body wants food more often.” If you eat six small healthy meals a day, your body will never feel stuffed and never feel hungry.  Think of your body as a wood burner… you would not stuff the burn full with wet wood and expect it to burn efficiently. No, you would add nice dry logs ever few hours to keep the fire burning as hot a possible. 

2. It is hard to find food that satisfies you. For this reason, you don't stop eating when you are full. You may find yourself scavenging for food or eating things you don't even like.

How many times have you left a restaurant and said “I am never going to eat that much food again”. I believe that psychologically... we still act like caveman, we never know when we are going to eat again so we better fill up now. Also, how many times were we told as children, "you better finish everything on your plate". It's all right not to finish a whole plate of food, especially at most restaurants that the portions are twice the size we really need. A great solution is to share a meal with a friend or spouse.

3. Cravings are triggered by an emotion such as anger, anxiety, or boredom etc.

I am not a big fan of food at all. To me it can be a waste of time to prepare and eat. When they come up with a way to take a pill once a day to completely nourish my body… I am all in. But I don’t think that is coming anytime soon. But when it comes to cravings, I have a big problem with ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. If I have them in my house they are gone in a day. It really does not matter how much or how many. So I keep those items away for the house as much as possible. But I did have times when I am down about something and I tell myself “screw it” I worked hard for weeks, “what can it hurt?” From my experience that is one of the worst things you can do to undo all your hard work. If you can’t just have one, then do not have any at all.

4. Comfort eating has a mindless component to it. You may not enjoy or taste the food because you are eating it mechanically, as if in a trance. Imagine sitting in front of the TV mindlessly popping chips into your mouth. 

This falls under the category of habit for me. Habits are so hard to break but so easy to start again. We have all been there before, so why not start a healthier habit and with time it will become second natural. The good news...now if you break a good habit, is becomes easier to get back on track.

 

4 ways to Stop Emotional Eating?

Thankfully, you can break the habit of emotional eating. It takes practice and finding creative, new ways to calm and successfully soothe yourself. The goal is to rewire your brain to identify non-eating behaviors as comforting.

1. Drink your water:

If you start by having a large glass of water 5 minutes before a meal, studies show that you will consume 1/3 less calories.

2. Buy stock on healthy foods:

Find some healthier food options that you really enjoy. Now this make take some trial and error, but once you have a list of items you enjoy… Stock up! Now instead of grabbing from the cookie, you now a something you enjoy as a treat that will reward your body.

3. One at a time: 

Start breaking your habits, “One at a time”. For me it was soda and candy bars first thing in the morning. I just replaced it with a high protein breakfast. Maybe for you it’s the drive thru window. Try keeping healthy snacks in the car at all times. This way you can grab a quick snack and drive right on by the fast food restaurants

4. Give yourself a break: 

These things take time, how and why we eat the way that we do has been years in the making. I wish we all could wake up tomorrow and knew exactly how and why we need to fuel or bodies, but that is not reality.  It’s going to take consistency, discipline and the willingness to go outside your comfort zone.  The compound effect of doing these behaviors over time will far outweigh the sacrifices you have to make in the short term.