How to stop emotional eating

Emotional eating is a behavioural condition that many people have but are unaware of. Emotional eating can lead to serious health conditions such as obesity, heart problems and diabetes. This is aside from the fact that the person who succumbs to emotional eating is trapped in a vicious cycle and does not get to solve the underlying problems that give rise to emotional eating. Learning how to stop emotional eating can be tricky but it is not impossible to do.

1. Give it a name.

• This means recognizing emotional eating and identifying the triggers of the behaviour.
• Some examples of triggers are stress, boredom, childhood habits and social influences.

2. Write it down.

• Keep a list or journal like a “food and mood diary”.
• Write down how you feel, what you ate and how you felt after eating.
• Doing this consciously will not only help you better identify the triggers but will also assist in solving your emotional issues.
• Also, the tendency to overeat is much less if you are diligent in writing down what you ate.

3. Look for alternatives.

• Find “pick-me-uppers” other than food.
• Activities such as exercise, dancing or listening to music are mood enhancers and they do not require putting food into your mouth.
• Doing something productive will take your mind off your favourite comfort food too.

4. Pause before you eat.

• If you find yourself reaching out for that salty, sweet or any unhealthy snack to make you feel better, pause for 5 minutes before you start eating.
• Pausing will allow your brain some time to process what you really want to do and to reconcile the fact that you are not really hungry to begin with.

5. Avoid your triggers.

• If you are always with that group of friends who like to eat while venting, maybe you need to lessen the hanging out time with them or you should find other things to do together than just eat.
• Practice time management and organization so you are less stressed or less bored.
• Keep your comfort food out of sight. If you make those unhealthy items harder to reach, the less likely you are to eat them.

Tips

• When all else fails, look for healthier versions of your favourite comfort food so that even if you cannot stop emotional eating right away, you munch on good stuff instead of junk.
• If you really cannot stop emotional eating, try to eat only four bites of your comfort food. According to doctors, the brain remembers this “food experience” as a good one after four bites, so you need not finish that entire bag of chips just to satisfy a craving.
• Try seeking professional help to address your emotional issues.

Useful Links