Food is fuel, not therapy.
Heaps of people say emotional eating is just due to a lack of self-control.
That is true for some people, but for others, it is a psychological disorder, that might need to be addressed to help the person concerned to overcome it. It can be due to financial worries, problems with your health, relationship problems.
It has been heard to say that it affects more women than it does men.
It often happens that negative emotions can lead to feelings of emotional void or feelings of emptiness Food can fill that void, to create a feeling of being full and satisfied.
A person might also resort to emotional eating when they are emotionally needy. When they have stopped engaging in activities that would actually relieve their stress and their sadness, etc.
Sometimes emotional eating is when someone just does not understand the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger.
Stress. When people are stressed out, their cortisol levels in their body change and this often leads to cravings.
Another reason for emotional eating is that people are often not even conscious of what they are eating. It’s like when there is a bowl of peanuts or crisps on the table in front of you and you just continue putting them in your mouth just because they are there.
There is a solution though. If you are mindful about what you see in front of you, concentrating on what you are eating, you can resist the mindless temptation just to throw back food and drinksbecause everyone else around you is. Read about mindful eating here.
Some people believe that food is their pleasure.
Some believe that if they couldn’t binge or overeat when they felt the urge, there would be nothing else to look forward to. And when you have had a really stressful, hectic day where everything seems to have gone wrong, a big bowl of comforting ice-cream could be just what you need, right?
And why would the ice-cream be so soothing? Because sources say that when you eat sugars and fats, you release opioid in our brains. This is the active ingredients that get released when heroin and cocaine are consumed. That calming soothing effect you feel when eating your ice-cream is real.
To break the habit is similar to breaking the habit of taking drugs.
In order to really give up on emotional eating, you are going to have to practice handing the difficult feelings wherever you are. Sometimes that can be pretty difficult because, in our culture, we have already learned from a young age to avoid those things that feel bad.
Sometimes the things we use to distract ourselves from difficult feelings are not always good for us.If you don’t have the ability to tolerate experiencing the difficult feelings that life deals out, you can be susceptible to giving in to emotional eating.
Another reason for emotional eating is when you despise your body.
This could be a result of shame or negativity. When these emotions reign, you are not likely to feel inspired to want to make any lasting changes. Some people say they will stop loathing their body when they reach their required weight, but in fact, it should be the other way round.
You need to stop hating your body so that you can stop the cycle of emotional eating.
Don’t allow yourself to get too hungry or too tired, because that just sends messages to your brain to eat. When you are tired and hungry it is not always easy to fight off cravings or urges for the wrong foods.
Simply remove all the temptations to reach for the wrong stuff from your kitchen and your refrigerator. Plan ahead for the month. Know what you are going to stock up your cupboards and pantry. Throw out the unhealthy foods.
When out shopping, you need to avoid the chips and the cookies and the sodas and the tinned foods. Also, don't go shopping when you are hungry, otherwise, you might find yourself throwing in sugary, processed foods.
Keep a record your feelings in a journal so that you can keep track of when you were tempted to want to eat and what you did about it.
It will help keep track of the connections between your emotions and the foods that you believe satisfy them – like reaching for chocolate when you’ve had angry words at work, for example.
When you understand the connection between unhealthy foods and your emotions, it can help you work out a strategy for countering your yearnings for the wrong foods. Train yourself to rather reach for healthy snacks.
Hobbies and talents are wonderful ways of channeling your emotions. Instead of thinking about food, tap into other things that you love and that make you happy – photography, painting, volunteering?
Get excited to prepare yourself a wholesome meal instead of grabbing something quickly like a takeaway.
That’s a good start in your effort to control emotional eating. Include veggies and good fats like olive oil into your meal. Cooking up a healthy meal is boosting your body with nutrients and minerals that you don’t get from junk foods.
Plan ahead, intending to cook once so that you can eat twice - not in the same eating session, but for the next day! Then when you are truly hungry, there’s that extra delicious meal!
Before grabbing that cupcake, or any other sugary or deep-fried fast food, ask yourself, “Is this going to make me feel better?”
When emotions take over, we often want to reach for something sweet, salty, or fatty, because they make us feel so good. But remember to weigh up the negative and the positive options.
You probably will feel better straight after a cupcake, but after an hour or so you are going to regret that you ever had it.
The good hormones get released when you get moving and involved in exercising. Working out in itself is a good thing to improve mood. See how your mood lifts when you head outside and get some fresh air and sun.
Not only will you feel revitalized, but you will curb your hunger, making you less tempted to grab a handful of sweets before supper.
Emotional eating sure is powerful and pretty effective to help you find temporary relief from the challenges of life. But in order to stop the cycle of emotional eating, you will need to make a particular commitment deep inside yourself to find the grit and strength to assist you in your journey.
It is our moods and emotions that can impact our relationship with food, affecting our ability to stick to a healthy eating plan. If emotional eating is really getting in your way of achieving your weight loss goals, start by putting a healthy plan in place – today.