Are you an emotional eater?
Fighting with your overbearing mother. A unexpected visit from your mother-in-law. The guy you’re seeing forgot your birthday…and your name. Cousin Lisa, determined to repopulate the world post-Zombie apocalypse, is having yet another baby. What do you do? You celebrate with a nice big bag of potato chips of course! Except that there must have been a hole in the bottom of the bag, because there’s absolutely no way you could have eaten it all. After all, everyone knows the bags are half-filled with air anyway.
Does that sound like you? I confess, in the past there were moments when as soon as I would feel my blood pressure start to rise, I ran to my fridge to calm my nerves. I know I’m not alone. For so many of us, our lives revolve around food. Breakups, makeups, anniversaries, and especially holidays meant food, and plenty of it, on our plates. Food also becomes our greatest source of comfort during our weakest moments, sabotaging any weight-loss plan in its way. How do you know the difference between physical hunger vs. emotional eating?
Emotional Eating
- Comes on suddenly, and strongly for a specific food.
- Is not satisfied even with a full belly.
- You feel guilt, embarrassed and ashamed after eating
Physical Hunger
- Comes gradually
- Can be satisfied with a variety of foods.
- Eating commences when full with no feelings of guilt afterwards.
Are you ready to break another bad habit this Motivation Monday? Here’s what some experts recommend you should do:
- Identify your triggers. Then seek new ways to release those sudden spikes in stress (no maxing out your credit card). You can’t control other people, only your reaction to them. Find other ways to feed your feelings. Read a trashy book. Try a new exercise class.
- Keep a food diary. Sometimes when you see it staring back at you in black and white, patterns emerge between your mood and the foods you eat.
- Sleep! UGH! I can’t stress this one enough. You’re stressed out, anxious and then sleep-deprived on top of that? A recipe for disaster if I’ve ever seen one.
If you find yourself still unable to control those urges, get counseling. That’s why it exists, because you’re not the only one, and there are professionals that are able to help you get back on track.
This Motivation Monday let’s take one step forward towards reinventing our health. Let’s deal with our emotions, instead of eating them!
Happy a great week,
xoxo Helen