You may not realize it, but if you are using food to settle emotions, you could be emotional eating. Whether it’s a pizza because you’re bored or some chocolate because you’re sad, if you use food to handle things it can have some negative impacts on you. It can leave you unable to deal with those emotions without that food intake. This can cause issues with your weight and your health in the long run. If you find this becoming an issue, there are some strategies that can help you.
Figure Out the Cause
If you know what’s causing the emotions you are experiencing, you can address them better. Stress is the biggest cause of emotional eating. By addressing the cause of your stress, you can then work towards eliminating it. This can get rid of the need for emotional eating altogether.
Don’t Feed Emotional Hunger with Food
Emotional hunger is more about psychological issues than physical hunger. If you can find a way to feed that emotional hunger through an activity rather than food, it’s going to help you break your emotional eating patterns. It may take a while to break the habit but this is definitely something to consider.
Distraction is the key. Try to utilize the emotions you’re feeling and project them into something like a sport, reading a book, or even spending time with friends.
Keep a Food Diary
This strategy is a little left of center, but it really can hold you accountable. By keeping a physical record of everything you put in your mouth you are making yourself accountable. After the first few days of seeing the amount you consumed, it can force you to make a conscious effort to leave emotional eating behind.
In Conclusion
Emotional eating is a psychological issue, and it’s really important to break this bad habit. Like any mental health issue, it really can come back to bite your physical health in the long run. The above strategies can help you conquer this issue.
