We’ve been there before. To celebrate our job raise, we’ve managed to drink bottles of champagne and eaten tons of spaghetti CARBonara. And to wallow in our pain of a break up, we’ve consumed packages of Pringles and chocolate Kisses. But when is emotional eating a problem?
Why we get into emotional eating
In times of severe despair, stress and emotional hardship, we don’t always want someone giving us advice and constant lecturing. So we turn to food because it doesn’t judge and it never fails to fill that empty space. Human beings are prone to wallow and self-indulge and so, we tend to look for quick fixes as a coping mechanism.
Eating carbs and sugary foods actually do give us a boost of energy and feel-good hormones. The problem is, is that after we feel a sense of relief from our emotional pain, we shoot right down and get even more depressed. The best way to deal with emotional hardship is to eat foods that sustain our metabolism. Once our vessel is on smooth sailing, we are able to handle stress and emotions with higher rationality.
The solution to emotional eating
Step 1- Establishing that you are an emotional eater
Ask yourself these following questions on anxious eating:
1. Do I crave sugar and carbs when I am stressed or when I am dealing with emotional difficulty?
2. Do I eat even though I’m not hungry (eg: boredom, socializing)?
3. Do I feel immediate emotional relief when eating carbs or sweets?
4. Am I preoccupied with food at the first sign of stress?
5. Is food my escape?
If you have answered ‘yes’ to four of these questions, you are an emotional eater!
Step 2- Detaching food from emotion
Food is not your best friend. Stop viewing food as a reason to live. Food is actually a resource to help your body function and retain energy. Food scientifically feeds your internal system and makes sure you can live, breath, think and look your best. View food as just calories-in. View physical activity as calories-out. That’s it.
Understand that you can actually deal with stress and emotional hardships more clearly if you just feed your metabolism with fresh and healthy choices. Eating right will make you feel good long-term and stop the quick fixes. Feeding your emotions will send your body and your mind into a never-ending emotional rollercoaster. Stop now!
Step 3 – Meditative eating
Every time you consume food, put your mind into a meditative state. Eat foods with full intension. Don’t eat on the go, don’t multi-task and try to really enjoy it:
1. Never get to the stage of being ravenously hungry!
2. When you are at a restaurant, glance at the whole menu and close the menu before you order. Think of the foods that will best feed your body. When you are grocery shopping, be rational and shop on the peripheries of the store. Most emotional foods linger in the centre isles!
3. Order or prepare the food that will best feed your body and that you don’t have an emotional attachment to.
4. When the food arrives in front of you, look at the food first and don’t dig right in. Be truly grateful for the food that you are about to consume!
5. Try to eat as slow as you can and enjoy the taste of everything even if it’s just a piece of lettuce.
6. Once you have finished the meal, be proud of yourself and the choices you have made. If you have had a hard day, be thankful that you have not resorted to your general quick fix.
Give yourself a month to undue your emotional eating habit. Focus on finding other coping mechanisms to handle stress. Take long walks, workout or take up a hobby that you’ve long forgotten. Good luck!
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