Do You Struggle With Emotional Eating?
Here’s Why It’s Not Your Fault & What You Can Do
Our brains learn early on to associate comfort, reward and celebration with food. When we feel stress, worry, or even boredom, we are cued to crave food to cope. On top of this, the food industry spends millions of dollars hiring chemists, psychologists, and engineers to design foods that are highly addictive all in an effort to get us to eat more.
Our tendency is to rely on willpower, but researchers are finding that the more we resist foods, the more strongly we may experience cravings. Instead, by developing an awareness of the thoughts and feelings that are driving our behavior and learning some healthier coping mechanisms we can overcome emotional eating for good.
Get curious. We experience thousands of thoughts and feelings throughout the day but are usually unaware of them, until we find ourselves standing in the pantry eating a bag of chips! When that happens, just notice what’s going on at the moment. What are your thoughts and feelings? Don’t beat yourself up, just get curious.
Get comfortable with uncomfortable feelings. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t taught how to identify or process our emotions. Having a higher level of emotional awareness makes it less likely we’ll struggle with emotional eating.
Track your food and mood. Tracking the cravings and physiological feelings you are having (a heavy chest, tightness in your shoulders or jaw, jitteriness) throughout the day can help you understand how your emotions impact your eating patterns.
Find some healthy coping mechanisms that don’t involve food. Make a list of activities that are quick and easy to implement like calling a friend, going for a walk, taking some deep breaths, or making a cup of tea.
Develop a different mindset around food. Practice viewing food as fuel and a source of nourishment rather than a reward or a treat.
Be sure to eat regularly. Go on and have a healthy snack to avoid being so hungry that you make less nutritious choices.
Stay hydrated. When we are dehydrated, our bodies aren’t as able to metabolize glycogen for energy which can lead to sugar cravings. Many people find that they have fewer cravings when they have had plenty of water to drink throughout the day.
Most of us know what to do when it comes to improving our health, but how to implement eating better or working out more consistently in the context of our busy professional and personal lives is another story! If you want support, one way health coaches are trained to help bridge the gap from “knowing” to “doing” is by helping people address their relationship with food, exercise, and their own emotional wellbeing. By addressing the root of the problem, we can solve it once and for all so that you can get back to the business of being your best for the work you do and the people you love!