How to Change Your Emotional Eating Habits

People engage in emotional eating for various reasons and these include cravings, stress, uncomfortable emotions and reward. A good first step for anyone that may think they have a problem with emotional eating would be to consult the advice of their physician. Nothing can replace the help of your doctor. But there is still plenty you will have to do and can do. Identifying the triggers for your emotional eating habits will help you to avoid peak emotions in those areas and take the necessary steps to find alternative strategies for coping. Let’s take a look at the 3 reasons a lot of people engage in emotional eating and explore some alternative strategies as well.

• Uncomfortable Emotions

• Food as a Reward

• Eating When Stressed Out

Uncomfortable Emotions

We are all confronted with situations in life that make us feel uncomfortable on an emotional level. It is unfortunate but it is a fact of life that everything is not going to be peaches and cream. If you find yourself emotional eating during uncomfortable emotionally charged times then a different strategy is called for because you have probably already begun to see the effects. It is time to find a coping strategy. Find out what it is that is making you feel uncomfortable and change your approach. If it is confrontation, then become a little more assertive. If it is avoidance then approach the problem head on in the best way you know how. Be straight forward and reasonable in your approach. If you find out the “why” you will know “what” to do to get control of the emotional trigger and change your emotional eating.

Food as a Reward

More people eat as a reward then probably any other kind of emotional eating. It is ingrained in us from the time we are young. Whether it be birthdays, graduations or weddings we are always surrounded by food at those events. It is reinforced in us at an early age and it continues right on through adulthood. Knowing that we are conditioned will allow us to find a different strategy. Instead of eating a piece of cake when you want to reward yourself, change the reward; why not try a hot bath or a relaxing trip to the spa. Pick a positive activity and replace it for the eating activity. It will take some conscious effort to do it and some time to replace the habit of eating for reward but it is possible to replace the emotional eating with another form of reward.

Eating When Stressed Out

This form of emotional eating is linked to the previous one. When we are stressed out we naturally invoke an activity that can help us relax-eating. But the more we are stressed the more we eat and so we put on those extra pounds which stress us out even more! It is time to invoke a different strategy; learning how to relax and stay relaxed. The trigger here is stress and if you can avoid pulling the trigger you can deal with the situation much better and without using food to do so. Put your thumb and index finger together and take some deep breathes, center you thoughts on calmer more enjoyable times. Now each time you find the stress level rising put your thumb and index finger together and repeat. The more times you do this or practice doing this the more effective it will be. Maybe you can take a meditation class as well. The more effective your relaxation techniques become the less emotional eating you will do.

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