Emotional Eating

daniel4123

Hi guys and girls,

I didn't know what forum to post this in but I and I'm sure many of us sturggle from emotional eating or eating when bored.

Healthy things don't cut it for me when I'm like this even though I'm pretty good during the day and I'm usually full.

Usually it's a hell of a lot of chocolate which is awful!

Any help and support will be amazing.

Daniel

shinyshughes

Hey Daniel,
I've struggled with the same thing since I was a child. I've found that developing a routine of healthy eating and exercise has helped a lot but I still have bad days when I just want to eat all of the food!
I think it's also helpful to stop thinking about certain foods as good and bad - for me, it just increases the appeal of the "bad" food. Some foods offer the fuel your body needs and some don't.
My best tip is to break the routine which leads to the bingeing. For me, sitting down in front of the TV as soon as I get home from work is a big trigger - I just spend the whole night eating afterwards. So I try to keep busy for a while when I get in and that seems to do the trick.
Do you find that your binges vary in length? For me it can be anything from 10 minutes to 10 months!
Good luck!
Sarah

Rheameg

I also am looking for a good substitute for my sugar cravings.

daniel4123

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the comment and the good tip there! Something to trick my mind I guess!
My binges are usually at night and is probably every night.

Although I have tried eating raisins. I know they aren't perfect but think its better than chocolate!

RodaRose

Work on mindfulness.
Eat all your meals at a kitchen or dining room table with a plate and silverware and focus and pay attention to what you are eating. It is hard to do because we are used to eating and doing two or three other things at the same time. We basically have trained ourselves to always be grabbing food.
When our brain and mind gets used to sitting and eating slowly while paying attention to our eating, we are retraining our brain / body/ mind.

hamelle2

I make a diet jello sundae with bananas and pineapple.....and a touch of cool whip. It replaces the real sundae I used to have while watching tv.

shinyshughes

Rheameg wrote: »

I also am looking for a good substitute for my sugar cravings.

If you're in the UK - I highly recommend Nakd bars or nibbles. They're made of natural ingredients (fruit and nuts) and they do lots of sweet flavours. My favourite is the cocoa orange - it's perfect for when I'm craving chocolate and doesn't make me feel so guilty

stfuriada

Substituting what you're binging on isn't really an answer, it's more a stopgap. It's a good idea to try and build your discipline/self control, because this whole fat-loss journey will require it.

Portion your chocolate into reasonable servings and stick to 1-2. Eat slowly if you must, lol.

runningforthetrain

I have chocolate every day. Are you trying to stay away from chocolate altogether? If you are, that could be one factor towards the binge. I limit myself to between 11 and 25 grams a day. I recently had some chocolate cake when out at a restaurant- since I am a committed logger- when I see how many calories that is- it really encourages me to have it very rarely. 11 grams of dark chocolate is only 60 cals. Moderation. And if that doesn't seem enough of a treat, add an apple, orange, or 1/2 Nakd bar- like above poster offered.

skinnyinnotime

Emotional eating, whatever you want to call it, you need willpower. The more you use it, the easier it becomes.

Why eat something that will be pleasureable for such a short time, that you will regret almost instantly. So not worth it.

LavenderLeaves

RodaRose wrote: »

Work on mindfulness.
Eat all your meals at a kitchen or dining room table with a plate and silverware and focus and pay attention to what you are eating. It is hard to do because we are used to eating and doing two or three other things at the same time. We basically have trained ourselves to always be grabbing food.
When our brain and mind gets used to sitting and eating slowly while paying attention to our eating, we are retraining our brain / body/ mind.

Mindfulness is a huge part of it. Learning to eat mindfully and keep your brain focused on food when you eat helps A LOT. Turn the TV off, turn some nice music on, and savor every bite of your meal. Don't just shove food in your mouth and suddenly realize you felt like you ate nothing because you were distracted by something else.

I'll have to disagree on the willpower thing someone mentioned, however. Avoiding emotional eating really has very little to do with willpower, imo. It's about finding out why we're turning to food when we aren't physically hungry. Are we avoiding something? Are we bored and just want the comfort of food since it will give us something to do? Are we trying to self-soothe something stressing us out or causing anxiety with food? Trying to really learn to see food as something that nourishes us and not as a coping mechanism will be how you deal with emotional eating in the long-term.

KaitlynNannery2015

Hey Danny,
I struggle with the same thing. What I usually do is drink water, walk around my house, do squats etc just to get my mind off of food. As for emotional eating

musicalityrnb

I'm also an emotional eater and it's not easy to gain that discipline - but it's definitely possible. A lot of these suggestions are the truth, my friend. Being mindful of what you're eating is better than cutting it completely out as you're more likely to fall into the trap.

momasox

It's such a struggle. It's taken a long time (over a year) for me to get to a point where I actually think before I emotionally eat and can stop myself now. Just telling myself that the food won't help me feel better. That I will feel worse afterwards. I am now at a point where this usually works. Sometimes when I am really stressed and anxious I still cave but only about 5% of the time. Now as for boredom... I am still working on that one. It's getting better.