Here's the down-low on emotional eating!
If you’ve ever found yourself turning to food when you’re feeling down, then know you’re not alone. This is a widespread phenomenon often referred to as emotional eating.
It’s bad for you because it can usually sabotage your eating habits and often lead to overeating and other serious health issues.
Here’s the good news. There are many things you can do to overcome the urge to soothe your feelings with food.
The following covers some practical measures you can take to stop your emotional eating for good. I hope that by the end of this post, you’ll have a basic understanding of what emotional eating is as well as how to overcome it for good.
Sounds good? Let’s get started.
Emotional Eating Explained Also known as stress eating, emotional eating involves using food to make yourself feel better. The food is used as a way of coping with emotions, whether it’s stress, anxiety, sadness, or feeling overwhelmed. You might go through a whole bag of chips when you’re feeling down, hit MacDonald’s after a stressful day at work, or order a pizza simply because you feel bored.
Don’t beat yourself up about it if this describes you—it’s more common than you might think. Surveys show that roughly 40 percent of adults engage in emotional eating in the past month, with roughly a half doing it every week.
Emotional Eating Doesn’t Work In spite of the fleeting release, emotional eating brings no lasting comfort.
Making a crutch out of food sets you up for unhealthy eating, followed by more negative feelings, then more unhealthy eating.
The food you tend to crave often to fill the void or deal with negative feelings tends to be food that is high in calories and fat and sweets. That’s why letting emotional eating spiral out of control can lead to weight and health issues and can prevent you from building more productive habits for dealing with stress and emotional challenges.
How To Stop Emotional Eating
There are many measures you can take to release emotions without reaching for food. Here are a few.
The Questions If you’re still unsure about whether you tend to eat your emotions away, the following test should set your mind straight.
By answering yes to more than one question, there’s a chance you’re you eat to fill your emotions instead of your stomach.
Do you keep eating when you aren’t hungry anymore?
Do you reach for food when you feel overwhelmed with stress, anxiety, sadness, etc.?
Do you often eat at irregular or unusual times?
Do you have trouble losing weight or maintain a healthy weight?
Do you eat healthily during the week but lose control during the weekend?
Do you often feel powerless over your food choices?
How often, food becomes a source of entertainment rather than a source of nutrition?
Do you often mindlessly eat while sitting in front of the TV?
Learn Your Triggers
To begin the process of breaking away from the emotional eating cycle, you need to first understand and identify the triggers behind it.
Awareness creates its own momentum. Perhaps you’re dealing with a stressful job and impending deadlines. Or perhaps your relationships are not going as well as you wish. Whatever. If you can identify the culprits that trigger the urge to overeat, then you can take proactive steps to tackle these issues before they get out of control.
So what’s causing you to turn to food for comfort? Is it loneliness? Depression? Boredom? You’ll find the answers if you dig deep enough.
Keep A Food Journal
So how you keep track of these triggers? Simple. Via a food journal. Inside of it, not only you keep track of your food choices, but also what type of mood and emotional state you were in that specific time.
The more data you keep track of, the better off you’ll be.
Next, assess your entries and look for signs of emotional eating as opposed to physical hunger. This can help shed light on your eating habits and help understand your food choices instead of being autopilot.
Just keep in mind not to judge yourself. Have some compassion. There are no right or wrong answers.
Come up with a plan Once you learn more about your triggers, plan some healthier activities to prevent eating for emotional eating reasons. Instead of relying on luck, you instead will know exactly what to do when you feel the need for emotional eating.
Here’s how to proceed.
Fill in the blanks: “When I feel (trigger), I will (healthier behavior).
Common triggers include feeling:
Lonely
Depressed
Down
Drained
Tired
Anxious
Overwhelmed
You name it.
How you choose to respond is up to you. But as long as it’s not overeating—or any other unhealthy behavior—you’re good to go.
Examples of healthy responses include:
Calling a friend
Hitting the gym
Going for a run
Watching a movie
Taking a nap
Doing yoga
Eating a carrot
Go to a yoga class
Get outside!
Get absorbed in a novel or magazine.
Talking to your partner
Meditating
Or whatever else rocks your boat—as long as it’s healthy.
For example, if you feel anxious before a work meeting, meditate, or go for a run instead of trying to eat your feelings away. This not only helps avoid extra calories but also helps build healthy habits.
About the author: David Dack is an established fitness blogger and running expert. When he’s not training for his next marathon, he’s doing research and trying to help as many people as possible to share his fitness philosophy. Check his blog Runners Blueprint for more info.