How to Stop Emotional Eating

Most people experience emotional eating at one time or the other. But if you happen to engage in it frequently, reaching for food will turn into a coping mechanism instead of a way of feeding your body.

When that’s the case, you need to face the music and do something about it—or else, face some tough consequences.

If you’re dealing with emotional eating, know that you’re not alone. This phenomenon is common among people of all sizes and shapes, and it can manifest in different forms.

In today’s post, you’ll learn a few strategies to help arm yourself to beat temptation and stop emotional and stress eating.

The Definition

Often dismissed as a lack of self-control or will-power, emotional eating is actually a manifestation of deeper problems that stem from having a bad relationship with food. Only by addressing these will you put a stop to your stress eating habit.

In other words, the key to dealing with emotional eating lies not in your kitchen, but your mind.

So what is it really about?

Also known as stress eating, emotional eating consists of a pattern of turning to food to help with unpleasant emotional experiences and stressful situations.

Without the ability to recognize and process our emotions, we may tend to turn toward food as a means of soothing. When this happens, we emotionally eat.

This could manifest as inhaling a whole chocolate bar when bored or ordering pizza after a stressful day at work. The premise is the same—foods equal emotional relief.

The Trap Of Emotional Eating.

Indulging occasionally in food as a pick-me-up isn’t inherently a bad thing. But when you make a habit of it, you’re heading in the wrong direction.

You get stuck in a vicious cycle where the real emotions or issues never get resolved. That’s why emotional eating usually makes things worse, serving as a useless Band-Aid on a severe wound.

After the episode is over, not only do the psychological issues remain, but you also feel bad and guilty for indulging yourself and overeating.

Not only that, if you tend to emotionally eat, you’ll also find it hard to lose weight, stay in shape, and perform at your best outside.

The Signs

You may have a problem with emotional eating if you answer "yes" to more than a few of the following questions:

• Do you feel a loss of control around food?
• Are you overweight or having trouble maintaining a healthy weight?
• Do you rely on the pleasure of eating to transform your mood?
• Does food make you feel safe?
• Do you feel unable to stop eating when you’ve already met your daily needs? Do you reach for unhealthy food because you can’t control it?
• Do you often feel ashamed or guilty after eating?
• Do you eat even if you’re not feeling hungry?

How To Stop Emotional Eating

Answer yes to more than a few of these questions, and that means that you likely have an emotionally-charged relationship with food—and could benefit from some mindfulness in this area.

Know Your Triggers

If you’re serious about warding off emotional eating, then you need first to understand what’s triggering the urge to reach for food to satisfy emotional needs.

Most emotional eating is due to negative feelings, but can also be brought by positive emotions such as celebrating a happy event or rewarding yourself for achieving a goal.

Next time you get that urge to fill emotional needs with foods, deliberately take a moment and ask yourself, “Am I physically hungry?” If not, try to uncover what feelings you’re actually experiencing. Are you stressed, depressed, angry, lonely, bored, sad?

Keep A Food Diary

Once you have a rough idea of what’s triggering your emotional eating episodes, start keeping track of them using a food diary.

Do this for a while, and you’ll start seeing patterns emerge in how your mood and emotional state affect your food choices. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Feel free to keep track using a notebook or your phone (there are many apps for this).

Inside the diary, make sure to jot down the following: • What you eat • How much you ate • When you ate • Your feelings before, during, and after eating

Come Up With a Plan

Once you figure out the patterns that trigger you to emotionally eat, you can come up with healthier behaviors that can help you deal with unpleasant emotions without reaching for food.

Make sure to have a plan in place when you’re upset to help you cope. The key to overcoming emotional eating is to have a plan in advance so you’re well prepared when the stress kicks in and triggers are present.

Tell yourself, “If I’m feeling down, I will go for a long walk instead of eating.”

Frustrated because you’re dealing with a lot of stress at work? Lift weights or take it out on a punching bag.