Eating is an integral part of our life. Our body needs energy and nutrients to perform properly. This energy and nutrients come from foods we eat.
Everyone has his/her own needs of energy and nutrients. Based on that demand, we eat foods. But sometimes we get emotional for any reason and forget the real need of our body. We overeat and which leads us to gain extra weight. Thus making us unfit.
The problem of emotional eating at first begins in the mind. Stress takes its toll on your life. When our defenses work weakly to manage stress then our health takes a hit and so do your emotions.
Everyone has their own source of mental stress. How we deal with the stressful situation brings emotional eating into play. You look for comfort for your hurts. Sometimes just to get relief from stress we eat more than we need.
To complicate the issue, eating pleasurable foods can stimulate the release of endorphins just like exercise. So, after you eat, you feel better.
Emotional eaters use food to relieve stress. They hide behind the food to move away from the problem. This is not uncommon when the stress level becomes too high.
But, how anyone will understand that he/she is using foods in this way? Sometimes it is easy to understand, when you will notice that after being in a stressful situation for a few days you have gained some weight.
It is obvious that, you will gain weight if you eat too much. In light of the weight gain, examine other areas of your life:
- Have you been under stress lately at work or at home?
- Has anything traumatic happened in the last year?
- Are you dealing with a problem but haven’t found a solution?
If you say “yes” to any of these questions could mean that you are an emotional eater.
During the time of emotional eating, you eat but you are not necessarily hungry at the time. The foods that you choose are what we term “comfort foods”. You eat them just to escape from the stress. These foods include but not limited to:
- High fat foods like French fries, fried foods
- High carbohydrate foods like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes
- Sugary foods like ice cream, donuts, cookies, cake
So what is the solution of this unwanted habit problem?
Don’t loose hope. There is help for emotional eaters. Below are some tips or strategy, whatever you want to call them, to help you overcome this problem more easily.
(1) The first step is recognizing and accept that you have a problem.
You’ll experience feelings of helplessness and guilt. The guilt is over potentially ruining your health and the helplessness lies in the fact that you don’t see a way out.
(2) Seek counseling
There are many types of counselors out there that can meet your need. Emotional eating has nothing to do with dieting or changing your eating habits but gaining control over your emotions.
A counselor might suggest things like visualization, practicing problem solving skills, relaxation techniques and family support.
Visualization helps you to see your problems in a realistic way and not blown out of proportion. You will also learn to see food as nutrition for the body and not an emotional crutch.
(3) Seek help from you friends and family
Your friends and family can learn your triggers for stress and be on the lookout for changes in your eating habits. They can help you be aware of the foods you are eating, assist you in making healthy food choices and exercise along with you.
You must gain more control over your emotion to stop emotional eating. Proper diet and exercise will increase your immunity, blood flow and positive thinking.
You can also try yoga. This will enhance the mind/body connection so you don’t eat when you aren’t hungry.
Finding new ways to solve your problems and deal with stress will certainly help you to overcome this bad habit. You’ll feel good about finding solutions which will eventually replace the dependency on food.
Stop emotional eating and control your unnecessary weight gain. Live a healthier life.
Take care and have a fit body.