Overcoming Emotional Eating

It's Christmastime again, and for as much as the Prince of Peace came to bestow peace, we can feel an unusual amount of stress during this time of year! And if you're already prone to being an emotional eater, well hang on, because the next few weeks can be a time for immense overeating, causing even more stress. Or not!

According to Joy Bauer in a 12/6/07 post at TODAYShow.com, emotional eating is when emotions drive you to eat instead of hunger, usually to banish negative emotions. The triggers for emotional eating can vary: "stress, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, loneliness, relationship problems, and poor self-esteem." When these emotions form your eating habits instead of your stomach, it obviously leads to overeating, weight gain, poor health, and usually....guilt. Bauer lists six strategies one can use to overcome emotional eating. This will be work, indeed. But definitely not impossible! You are not a victim ... there are choices you can make and plans you can set in place. Plan your work and work your plan for this holiday season...start today!

Joy Bauer's Six Strategies:

1. Learn to recognize your hunger before you automatically pop something into your mouth. Rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being ravenous and 5 being full. Make every effort to avoid eating when you’re a 4 or a 5.

2. Find alternatives to eating. Prepare a list of activities that are personally appealing and handy. Perhaps go for a walk, call a friend, listen to nostalgic music (anything that brings you back to a happy time), take a hot shower or bath, clean your house, polish your nails, surf the Internet, schedule outstanding appointments, watch something on TiVo, clean your purse, organize your closet, look through a photo album, etc.

3. Keep a food journal. Logging your food will help to identify your toughest time frames. It will also make you accountable, so perhaps you’ll be less apt to reach for unnecessary food.

4. Three-food interference. Make the commitment to first eat three specific healthy foods before starting on comfort foods (i.e., an apple, handful of baby carrots and a nonfat yogurt). If after that, you still want to continue with your comfort foods, give yourself permission. However, most of the time, the three foods are enough to stop you from moving on.

5. Exercise regularly. Daily exercise relieves stress and puts you in a positive mindset, which provides greater strength to pass on the unhealthy fare.

6. Get enough sleep. Research shows that sleep deprivation can increase hunger by decreasing leptin levels, the appetite-regulating hormone that signals fullness. Furthermore, with adequate sleep, you’ll be less tired and have more resolve to fight off the urge to grab foods for comfort.

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