So you just got some bad news. What’s the first thing you do?

1) Call a friend
2) Take a walk
3) Eat something

If you answered #3 (and don’t worry, many of us did too…) you may be an emotional eater. Emotional eating is defined as eating food (usually sweet or salty) when you’re not hungry, and, instead, as a way of dealing with upsetting or sad feelings.

Very often, we seek to comfort ourselves with food, whether we are hungry or not. Eating can be a way of dealing with stress, upset, fear, anger, boredom, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness. It’s easy to eat when we feel badly, even though eating during these times doesn’t really solve the feelings- and then we feel badly because we messed up our weight control and *still* feel upset.

Some people also use food as a distraction- they cook or bake (and lick the bowl) when they are upset or working through a problem. While distraction is a good coping mechanism, the problem with spending a lot of time around food is that, eventually, you’re going to eat some, whether you’re hungry or not.

So how can you get control over emotional eating?

• Recognize true hunger (in your stomach) from ‘false’ hunger (in your thoughts).

• Give your cravings a few minutes to pass, and see if they do.

• Build other coping skills, such as connecting with friends, going for a walk, or taking a nap.

• Get enough rest (this goes a long way in keeping your emotions from running away with you)

• Eat something healthy before you eat anything unhealthy

Life is full of stress- so that’s not something we can get away from. However, we can learn to identify and reduce our sources of stress, and to cope with our stress in more healthful and productive ways than reaching for candy, soda, ice cream or chips.

Our bodies have to work harder to help us feel better when we don’t give them the right fuel.