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.
March 15th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 16th, 2009 at 5:04 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 16th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 17th, 2009 at 12:07 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 17th, 2009 at 6:06 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 17th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
[...] you’re eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 12:34 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 9:36 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 19th, 2009 at 12:19 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 19th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
[...] you are feeling badly, you normally want to eat sweet, fattening foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 8:05 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 9:35 am
[...] you are feeling badly, you normally want to eat sweet, fattening foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
[...] eating from your feelings, you want to eat “bad for you food”- sweet or salty. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 12:06 am
[...] you’re emotionally overeating, you normally crave fatty, sweet food, or salty, crunchy ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 2:04 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 5:37 am
[...] you’re emotionally overeating, you normally crave fatty, sweet food, or salty, crunchy ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
[...] you’re emotionally overeating, you normally crave fatty, sweet food, or salty, crunchy ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 10:05 pm
[...] you are feeling badly, you normally want to eat sweet, fattening foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:03 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
[...] you are feeling badly, you normally want to eat sweet, fattening foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:36 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 5:57 am
[...] you’re emotionally overeating, you normally crave fatty, sweet food, or salty, crunchy ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 9:22 am
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
[...] eating from emotions, you usually are drawn to sweet, fatty foods, or crunchy, salty ones. Emotional eating usually happens when you’re upset, [...]