Eliminating Emotional Eating: 9 Proven Tips for Success

Food not only quells your physical hunger but also your emotional emptiness.

Food has always been a go-to comforter. As such, it makes total sense why so many people binge eat chocolate, cake, or ice creams after a heartbreak or why they grab the bar when they are stressed. 

Food and emotions are intricately connected. We eat when we are happy when we celebrate, when we are lonely or when we are under pressure. Food can bring immense comfort because it prompts the brain to release the ‘feel-good hormones called endorphins. It is this euphoria that makes people eat more than the body actually needs or can process. It is a common human trait to reach out for food when nothing else seems to soothe. Though it is more common with women, men too have a tendency to fall for emotional eating.

Emotional Eating Reasons

Emotional binging is a mindless psychological reaction. It could be anything from work stress to finances to health issues to relationship or personal scoop. Even fluctuating hormone levels, mood swings, mental distress, and mental health issues can lead to emotional eating. Negative emotions trigger a feeling of emptiness and food is the perfect comforter for this emotional void. 

Remember, binge eating and emotional eating are not the same things. But the impact remains the same – weight gain and the distress of obesity. Binge eating is more of an eating disorder where you eat a large amount of food in a short duration. Emotional eating is more of a psychological or emotional disorder.

Here are the top 3 emotional eating causes that you must know to identify your pattern – 

• Stress and negative emotions – Stress triggers the release of cortisol hormones in your body which craves salty, sweet, and fried foods. Stressed people often turn to food thus contributing more to their risk of obesity.
• Boredom – Most people don’t realize this, but they tend to eat more when they are bored. Just munching a bag of chips can replace your boredom with feelings of euphoria.
• Social influences – Getting together with other people over a meal is a great stress-buster, but over-indulging in the food is a common thing that happens in these gatherings. 

Don’t fall into the emotional eating cycle

Our body interprets eating as a pleasure. But behind the curtain of comfort lies the vicious emotional eating cycle. The more stressed you are the more you tend to eat. The more you eat, the more you are ladened with guilt and fear of weight gain. These further burden your brain with added stress. 

The thing with emotional hunger is that it cannot be fulfilled with food. The high tends to last only for a few moments and it ends leaving with a stronger craving. Not to mention the guilt of consuming all the calories. 

Thankfully there are better ways to break free of this vicious cycle.

Tips for emotional eating

1. Address your stress

Since the root of your emotional eating lies in stress, the best way to stop it is to deal with your stress first. Simple stress-relieving techniques like diary writing, gratitude diary, reading a book, meditation or yoga can help break free from the clench of stress. 

2. Sweat your stress out

A lesser-known fact about our body is that exercising too can help in releasing endorphins in your brain. Studies have proved that exercising helps fight depression, stress, and anxiety. A short walk, yoga, or even freehand exercising can help.

3. Try Meditation for emotional eating

Meditation is a proven technique to combat stress. Several studies have found that mindfulness meditation can help in treating emotional disorders including emotional eating. Simply sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and take deep breaths while focusing your energies on a calmer state. You can also try guided meditation from YouTube videos. 

4. Start your emotional eating journal 

Keeping an emotional journal helps you identify the patterns. It also makes you more alert of your emotional needs and gives you better ideas to deal with your stress. It is even better if you can jot down your eating patterns. 

5. Fight boredom in a better way

Since boredom is a trigger for emotional eating, it’s crucial to handle boredom the smart way. You can go for a game or engage with a friend. Take up a new project or try your hands with the paint. Keep your mind busy to stop the false food alarms.

Also Read: Tips for Coping with Boredom

6. Always go for the healthy grab

If you feel like eating, then go for healthy food. Rather than binging on chips and cookies, get some nuts and seeds or unbuttered popcorn. For your sweet cravings, eat sweet fruit and your soda cravings with lemon water or buttermilk. There is always a healthy alternative, you just have to make the right choices.

7. Maintain a disciplined eating routine

One of the best ways to avoid eating extra is by making a routine and sticking to it with all your heart. Once your brain is programmed to eat only at particular times, it is less likely to fall for the cravings.

8. Practice mindful eating

Eating while watching your TV or browsing through your phone is the worst thing that’s happening. Eating in a distracting environment can keep you away from fully enjoying your food. Thus, leaving you unsatiated. Eating mindfully can enhance the pleasure of eating and curb overeating.

Also Read: What is emotional immunity?

Seek help!

Emotional eating could be the very first stage of depression or another mental disorder and not addressing it could result in more serious complications. Loneliness, grief, or stress can trigger emotional eating. But over time this can lead to more complex emotional turmoil.

Your takeaway!

If you are gorging down food any time of the day, then that is an unhealthy eating pattern that you need to register. Many times, we don’t even realize that we are stressed and this could easily transpire into emotional eating. So, whenever you stretch your hand to grab that food, make a note of it!