How to Stop Emotional Eating
Do you find yourself reaching for snacks every time you feel upset, anxious or stressed? Do you feel guilt and shame after emotional eating, keeping you in a vicious cycle of negative feelings? Emotional eating affects a large degree of the population and is a huge contributor to weight gain and obesity. The good news is you can take steps to heal and liberate yourself from emotional eating.
First, we need to distinguish true hunger from emotional hunger. When you’re physically hungry you’re typically aware of the foods you’re eating, you’re able to make better food choices and you know to stop eating when full. Emotional hunger comes on when you seek out pleasure to avoid uncomfortable feelings, you tend to go for foods higher in fat/sugar and still aren’t satisfied when full. It’s important not to withhold food when truly hungry but when emotional hunger strikes here are some things you can do.
Distraction
When you feel an episode coming on go for a walk, phone a friend, do a home workout or immerse yourself in your goals. You want to engage in activities that stimulate your mind and make you feel good and avoid activities that put you into auto-pilot mode, such as binge-watching tv, which will only make you want to eat more.
Get Social
Our friendship circles truly have the power to get us through tough times. If you tend to retreat into your shell when feeling low try to push yourself to connect with a trusted friend. Retreating will only keep you in a negative cycle.
Eat Healthy Foods
Make sure you’re getting adequate nutrients to nourish your body and mind. The foods you eat directly impact your mental state so you want to avoid refined and processed foods and opt for whole fresh foods.
Remove your trigger foods from your home or workspace and replace them with healthy calorie-dilute foods such as fruits and veggie snacks. This way, if a binge comes on, you’re less likely to exceed your daily caloric intake.
Seek Support
There’s no shame in utilising the professional help of a psychologist or counsellor to get you through emotional eating. They provide invaluable support and can teach you effective stress management techniques that can be implemented throughout your entire life.
Lastly, be kind to yourself. Overcoming emotional eating takes time and effort. If you slip it’s completely normal. Just get up, dust yourself off and try to do better next time.
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