How to Overcome Emotional Eating

A great number of overweight people gain pounds because of emotional overeating. Such behaviour is deeply rooted in human psyche. Food is pleasure, and for most of us it is not only a nutritional source, but also an emotional comforter. Probably, it can be traced back to those blissful days when the mother’s milk was our only food and also meant love, care, and emotional security.

Unfortunately, if you want to lose weight, you will need to break away from an addictive habit of using food to relieve stress or sooth your emotional wounds. This psychological component of weight loss is often underestimated by many dieters, but it also can be the main reason many people cannot get rid of excess weight on a long run. Lost pounds seem to quickly return back when we travel along bumpy emotional roads of life and ease tensions by eating “comforting foods” – those heart-consoling doughnuts, chips, chocolate cookies, and candies…

How to break free from emotional eating? If you tend to sooth yourself with food when you feel sad, tired, lonely, depressed, or nervous, you have probably noticed that you do not feel much better after eating, either. Initially, just after a sugary or fatty snack, you body gets additional glucose and you may feel all right for some time. However, once the insulin kicks in and your blood glucose level drops, it is not unlikely that both your physical and emotional states will plunge, too. Add to this a post-binge guilt, especially if you are overweight and strive to shed your “spare tire”, and you might end up feeling really awful!

Emotional eating is hard to overcome, but it is perfectly possible. Just like a smoker can quit puffing his lung rockets when he opts for a healthier life, an overweight person can break free from her binging patterns if she finally decides to lose weight and significantly improve her health.

The following tricks are specially designed to help you lose weight by kicking the harmful habit of emotional overeating:

•    Whenever you feel like having a snack, and especially if you are not really hungry, treat yourself to a small low-carb meal. It won’t play havoc with your blood sugar, nor will it make you feel guilty afterwards. A slice of meat or cheese with a cup of green salad is a perfect snack, and it will not compromise our weight-loss efforts.

•    Instead of reaching for a pastry or bowl of ice-cream when you need emotional comfort, try to interact with another person instead, especially someone who can understand your situation. Call a good friend, talk to your spouse, or join an Internet chat for people with the same problems.

•    A good anti-binge strategy is not to stay at home, and even more so in front of TV with its endless food commercials, but to go out instead. Whenever you feel that the binge is approaching, pick yourself up and go out for a good long walk, or visit a movie theatre, dance club, bookstore, or a friend’s house. The compelling urge to eat will subside once you are out of your house.

•    Consider sugar, cookies, ice-cream, chips, and sweet drinks your worst enemies! Do not stock your pantry shelves and the refrigerator with unhealthy foods. Do not buy anything that might compromise your weight loss diet. Besides, if the binge urge is truly irresistible, you will still have to go out to buy those unhealthy treats! In addition, there is a big possibility that you can change your mind once you are out.

•    And, finally, exercise! Physical activity is a great way to distract your thoughts from food issues. Join your local gym and go there every night instead of munching on forbidden foods in front of TV. Numerous studies confirm that even moderate exercise helps the body release brain-comforting endorphins, reduce the level of stress hormones, and stabilize appetite.

Tim Ford