6 Tips to Conquer Emotional Eating

Eating for reasons other than hunger can cause unwanted side effects. The side effects can range from a few unwanted pounds to a serious eating disorder. Many of us eat when we are bored, angry, tired, procrastinating, happy, sad, excited, anxious, frustrated, etc. We eat to reward ourselves and to comfort ourselves. Wouldn't it be great if we could find better solutions?

I have found these six simple steps very helpful in battling emotional eating. Have you tried any of these already? Can you add to the list?

1) Am I hungry? Before you eat anything ask yourself the simple question, "Am I hungry?" If not, ask yourself what it is you want the experience of eating right now to give you. If you identify what you need, you will be better able to identify how to fill that need. For example, if you realize you are lonely and you are using food as a friend, maybe you could pick up the phone and call someone, or go out to your local Starbucks and get a coffee and be around people instead of eating.

2) Environmental Control. Don't have food at home that you are likely to overeat. This one seems obvious but you'd be surprised at how many people don't use this tool. Don't buy a big bag of cookies, chips, chocolates, etc. and keep them around. If you love these foods, buy them in small quantities so they don't tempt you at home.

3) Count Calories. Writing down what you eat and counting the calories takes all the good and bad out of food and turns it into numbers. You can eat a lot of food if you eat low calorie. If you want to use food for fun, friend, drug, you can do so with frozen yogurt, air popped popcorn, big baked potatoes, artichokes, veggies, shellfish and fruit. These foods won't do much caloric damage. Of course it would be best to change the behavior entirely, and not use food at all, but sometimes that just isn't an option. When one is so very attached to the food, sometimes the best choice is to switch to lower calorie options. It is kind of like switching to a low nicotine cigarette if you just can't quit smoking.

4) Fill up You Life. If you are using food to fill the empty space, then fill it with what it is you really crave. If it is more socializing, learning, volunteering, cooking, working out, quiet time, etc. you can make your life more fulfilling and satisfying by paying attention to what it lacks.

5) Enjoy Your Food More. When you have a love/hate relationship with food, it is easy to forget to enjoy it. We can learn to feel guilty when we eat anything and train ourselves to gulp the food down. We avoid the guilt but we also miss the natural pleasure of eating. Try and slow down, pay attention to the food you are eating and enjoy it.

6) Be Consistent. If you stop eating for reasons other than hunger, and you do this consistently, you will train yourself to respond differently when you get bored, frustrated, angry, lonely, etc. You will learn to eat when you are hungry, eat low calorie/healthy food, enjoy the food you eat more and fill up your life in healthy ways.

That's it for now. Good luck and let me know how you're doing.

If you'd like to participate in the research for Irene's new book about the process of weight loss, please visit http://www.eatingdisordertherapist.com/ and take the survey.

Comments

[financialwhisperer]

It's fine to say one is an emotional eater, but it's one's relationship to food that needs to get examined.

Getting underneath the emotional piece and uncovering what is usually shame, gives a person the beginnings of what can be the healing process. Everything in our lives is about relationships.
So, when something is dysfunctional...money, food, drinking, etc, we are getting a signal from our "flight tower": planes attempting to take off need to be grounded.

People need real life long tools to help them re-connect with themselves, not just temporary fixes.

thefinancialwhisperer.com

[TheBlackCat]

These are really useful, thanks for the post!

[AZAcct]

As an always tempted/tested former bulimorexic, I agree with "DennyCrane" that #2 is the best one--if you don't have high-cal junk food in your home then it's a lot harder to binge on it...

My top 2 tips I use on a daily basis to avoid overeating and to stay thin

1. Aim for drinking a gallon of water a day. Buy a variety of crystal light to-gos (there are so many flavors now) and a reuseable water bottle. I have a liter water bottle and fill it up 4x a day and drink 4 flavors a day...I stay fuller, have better skin and it's only 40 additional calories total to not have boring water (plus some of the to-gos have anti-oxidants and vitamins etc in them).

2. If you feel an overeating urge come over you quickly (a) chug a glass of water (b) eat a high volume, low calorie food and wait...if anything...it might reduce your overeating volume...

I actually use all of the tips listed on here but these are just my additions. Hope that helps...eating disorders are terrible...

mindtowebgirl.typepad.com

[DennyCrane]

Number 2 is the best one of all. A big reason why so many people are overweight is because it's too easy to acquire bad food. Unfortunately, junk food will always be cheaper than healthy food. If junk food were more of a luxury good, we'd probably be eating less of it. But since prices won't change for the better, the next best option is to make it harder to get to the food. I know that when I'm craving junk, I'm less likely to go get it if it means getting in the car, driving somewhere, and then bringing it back. But if it's in my kitchen, then just makes it too tempting.

[gfk]

Great tips. Thanks Irene.