HOW TO TACKLE EMOTIONAL EATING
We’ve all been there where we wolf down an unholy amount of food to make ourselves feel ‘better’.
Even though after we usually feel worse about ourselves than before.
And somehow, no matter how much we eat, we never seem to fill that void.
It can become a debilitating cycle,
I like many women, know the feeling well.
The overwhelming sense of guilt, of worthlessness. Feeling like I had no control, why did I do this to myself?
But I just couldn’t stop. I’d vow to never overeat again. But then I would end up binging on all things sweet, by myself, hiding the evidence because I was so ashamed.
You may identify with how emotional eating usually works, although everyone’s experience is different.
You feel down on yourself, there are many emotional reasons and triggers, many times we may not even be aware of what they are,
So we seek comfort or soothing in food.
Eating chocolate or cake will always have the same effect. We know we will get a dopamine hit and we will feel better for a little while…
Eating a particular big or fatty meal can serve as a distraction or a way to suppress the negative emotion you are faced with, so you don’t have to deal with the emotional turmoil that’s challenging you,
It’s generally not because we are hungry and often we don’t think about our actions until after, following through the same routine and pattern trying to create a numbing effect.
Thus the cycle repeats itself, something emotional triggers you to overeat, you beat yourself up about eating it, you feel bad and over eat again.
So how do you over-come this cycle and build a healthy relationship with food?
It’s a broad topic with different triggers for different people, but here’s a few strategies you can put in place to help
1) Identify your emotional eating triggers
Are you stressed?
Suffering from negative emotions?
Have feeling of emptiness or boredom?
Or perhaps you feel like rewarding yourself with food?
Or are chasing feeling of happiness from your childhood (think Happy Meals)?
Keep an emotional eating diary to figure out what triggers cause the urge to emotionally eat.
Write down what you are feeling when you are triggered.
Did something happen?
Where did this urge come from?
Once a pattern emerges you can pinpoint the cause and be better equipped to deal with the trigger.
2) Learn to manage your emotions so you don’t need emotional eating as a solution
There are many strategies we can use to create conscious control over our eating habits especially once you have identified the triggers.
Finding a hobby or healthy alternative is a good way to distract yourself from the habit and form a new way to make yourself feel better without eating.
For example calling a friend, playing with a pet, doing exercise, taking a walk, squeezing a stress ball, taking a bath, reading a book, doing an activity you enjoy all create the feel good endorphins that your chasing when emotionally eating.
3) Support yourself with healthy lifestyle habits to curb emotional eating
As they say body, soul and mind all work together to create health.
To help regulate your emotional state you should exercise daily, aim for 8 hours sleep, drink plenty of water and eat nutritious food, create time to destress and relax, get out into nature and connect with others.
4) Practise mindful eating
Instead of just mindlessly eating in front of the TV or while on your phone, slow down and savour your food. Take time to enjoy the textures and flavours, and chew taking time between mouthfuls.
This not only create better habits to help you feel full before you overeat, it also help you check in with yourself and how you are feeling so you can deal with any emotions that come up. This may be scary but dealing with this discomfort is a good way to conquer it.
You can even find mindful eating helps you binge less, enjoying the meal or treat more and create no shameful feelings afterwards.
5) Some wounds run to deep for a blog post to fix, get professional help
One of the best things I ever did for my emotional eating was see a phycologist and do the inner work.
It can be confronting but it’s certainly worth the effort as I now have a positive relationship with food, rather than an ongoing battle of self-loathing.
Turns out it wasn’t really the food I was mad at. It was always me.
Once I healed myself, food wasn’t a problem anymore.
Sure, I can indulge but it’s never the same as trying to feed a deep emotional hole that never seemed to be full.
I eat for pleasure, for the joy of eating, in moderation and then fuel myself with nutritious foods that allow me to train.
It’s a much healthier, happier relationship with food AND with ME.
