Emotional Eating (EE) is the behaviour of eating on account of emotions rather than for reasons of physical hunger. I always picture those women on 90’s sitcoms reaching for a pint of ice cream after a breakup. Although emotional eating isn’t always for stress or to comfort, it can also to be for positive things such as rewards! I’m guilty of the food rewards! I catch myself telling my son I will give him a treat if he is a good boy! While for some, emotional eating is simply out of boredom! With that said, there are thousands of reasons for emotional eating!
Nowadays junk and processed foods are so accessible to us which tends to go hand in hand with emotional eating. So how can we prevent emotional eating? How can we break those habits or traps we fall into? Undoubtedly, it isn’t easy to fight that urge to eat for certain emotions. However, these strategies will help to prevent emotional eating and avoid the surge of negative emotions that occur afterwards.
Delay the craving
You’re sitting on the couch watching TV and suddenly, you start thinking about food. Likely a commercial came on TV that triggered it or maybe just the time of day. Immediately you walk into the kitchen and rummage around to find something to munch on. You reach for the chips because they are the easiest. Before you know it the entire bag of chips are finished! Does this sound familiar?
The next time this scenario happens, wait 1 minute before satisfying the craving. Literally set a timer on your phone for 60 seconds. If you make it to that then wait another minute and keep stretching out the wait until either the craving is over, or you can’t possibly wait anymore.
Stop and ask yourself, what are you eating for?
There are 3 main reasons we eat at least in North American society. The first is the obvious, because we are physically hungry. In which case we are eating for our stomach. The second reason is for our brain. In other words, we have a craving that our brain won’t let go of. The last reason is for our heart. Whether that be to fill a void or to celebrate a success.
Use these three types of hungers to assess what exactly you are eating for. If you are physically hungry then proceed to the kitchen. However, if you just finished a satisfying meal and you are still lingering in the kitchen then analyze a little further what you are eating for. If it is for your heart or brain, then put an action plan in place to help prevent eating.
For example, if eating for your heart then call a friend to talk it out with rather than reaching for a snack. On the other hand, if eating for that craving your brain is fixed on then do something to fuel your brain such as a puzzle, read a thriller novel or do sudoku.
Know your patterns and make a plan!
Do you find yourself at highest risk for emotional eating during certain times of the day? If it is something you have never noticed, then I urge you to start making note of your emotional eating patterns. Whether this be times of day or days of the week or following interactions with certain people! Notice when emotional eating is at its worst and then strategically plan activities during those periods to help prevent the eating spiral.
Use a journal
Write about and for your emotions rather than eating for them. Eating can be used to distract yourself from maybe negative emotions that you are trying to avoid. The best way to work through an emotion is to process it. Journaling can help you explore your emotions and determine why are you feeling the way you are feeling.
Use a mood chart
Is journaling not your cup of tea but you still have difficulty understanding your emotions in relation to eating? Try using a mood chart to track and rate your moods throughout the day. With that, document the periods of emotional eating to see how it is connected to specific moods. This is a great way to build emotional eating awareness. For a downloadable mood chart, I like the chart located here.
Know your triggers and set up a safe environment
Are there certain foods that trigger emotional eating for you? If so, limit the amount of these foods available in the house or better yet do not purchase them at all! The problem with processed foods is that there is no prep involved! Therefore, they are easy to access when feeling emotionally vulnerable. A good way to help reduce emotional eating is to set up a safe environment. Have healthy snacks such as cut veggies or fruit, readily available so that you can munch on those instead. Check out my post How to Satisfy your Sweet Tooth without Sabotaging your Diet for more strategies on healthy eating.
Engage in mindful eating
Mindful eating is an excellent tool to help bring awareness to the reason for eating. Secondly, it helps to delay and even prevent eating all together if eating for emotions. The video below is an excellent 5-minute mindful eating exercise. Listen to this the next time you notice yourself at a moment of weakness.
When it comes to emotional eating do know that you are NOT alone! This is a very common way of coping with emotions in society today. With that said, do know there are many tools easily available to help prevent such eating patterns. Give these strategies a try for yourself! Please feel free to pin and share on Pinterest if you found this helpful!
Cheers to a healthier you!
Tricia
xoxo