Emotional Eating

lclarkewalker

This past year I realized for the first time that I'm an "emotional eater". And I decided to address the issue with alternatives, even if the alternative is food.

Right now I am pretty proud of me. My Mom passed away and I had to do some hefty travel. Though I didn't stick strictly to the diet plan, I didn't go crazy with things, either, as I had done in the past.

I am curious: what are your tips and tricks to overcome emotional eating?

LillysMomma09

First off, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. :-(

I'm a horrible emotional eater and struggle with it often. I have note taped to my monitor at work
"Food is the most abused anxiety drug. Exercise is the most underutilized antidepressant"
Sometimes reading this helps, other times I am weak and I fail. I guess for me I try to overcome more often then fail, for me that's a win!

cebreisch

My dad passed away a few years ago, and that was hard...not to mention watching him battle multiple myeloma to boot.

I’ve tried everything from crocheting, knitting, yadda yadda.....I do take lexapro, and I do see a therapist. Those are both HUGE helps with the emotional part if it all. I wouldn’t have thought to see a therapist, but at one time, I was considering getting the lap band done, and that was one of the hoops I needed to jump through to get it done. I still haven’t gotten it done, but I do still see the therapist.

raepoulson

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I also recently realized that i binge eat when i'm stressed or upset, usually to the point of feeling overly full or nauseated. i've found that i need something healthy and filling to stop myself from going through a bag of junk food. I usually steam some broccoli, or eat grapes or carrots: something i can eat a lot of and isn't bad for me.

One part is the taste of the food, the familiarity and comfort, but the other part is the physical act of putting food in your mouth. Sometimes you can trick your brain past the craving. A bowl of carrots, mandarin oranges, or something like that might be a good idea to keep around.

You can do it!

lclarkewalker

Thanks so much everyone! I am finding that its also very tempting, when I'm tired, to bug hubby to go get dinner out. But have only done that once in four weeks, so I'm feeling pretty good. I have never heard of lexapro? What does it do? I've had one doctor suggest a medication that is supposed to suppress appetite but to be honest, I don't like using drugs if I can help it. I'm on some from necessity but I intentionally made myself get off insulin and other things because the side effects were worse than toughing it.

MTmimi

I think I am an emotional eater too. I like the tips that others suggested, but I would definitely steeper

MTmimi

Oops- I meant to say: "steer clear of any drugs" if you can help it. Pharmaceuticals are over-prescribed in our culture (and often have nasty side-effects). We can do this!

PamRoman61

I remind myself that binge eating is not in fact harmless. As a kid I got that idea, but now that I am living with the negative effect of it, I have to accept that it has caused me a good deal of pain. Also I remind myself that if I really want to do this I can always do it tomorrow, but just not right now.

lclarkewalker

PamRoman61 wrote: »

I remind myself that binge eating is not in fact harmless. As a kid I got that idea, but now that I am living with the negative effect of it, I have to accept that it has caused me a good deal of pain. Also I remind myself that if I really want to do this I can always do it tomorrow, but just not right now.

I'm sorry Pam. I'm not sure what you mean?

PamRoman61

I wrote binge but wanted to say emotional eating. Hope that clears things up.

lclarkewalker

thanks Pam. Well, I took a day off from counting cals. I discovered that I don't think about what I eat and how much if I don't have to report in so no more of that!

MystikPixie

I'm an emotional eater from waaaaay back. Everybody else in my family are the opposite, they can't eat when they are upset. How I managed to be the oddball is a mystery. But as I get older things tend not to bother me, so unless it's a biggie, I'm able to ignore the urge to clean out the fridge with my stomach.

My trick is acknowledging that I have a problem with food and that as much as I hide it, I do have emotions and they trigger that problem. Before I shovel a huge chocolate cake in, ask myself, "Why am I doing this? For the pleasure of eating, or to ignore my pain?"

FeelingAlive

Life long emotional eater here - I am especially fond of candy and sweet treats.

I've successfully curb this habit though, but it took five years of dedication and self evaluation. First of all it is important to become acquainted with your body to be able to distinguish between actual hunger and cravings. When feeling the need to eat, ask yourself: do you really need this?

Secondly substitute unhealthy foods with healthier food, which is still tasty. It doesn't help you bombard yourself with food you don't like eating because this is not sustainable and you'll fall back to bad habits. In fact, never eat something you don't want to eat, it's wasted calories and reduced enjoyment in your life. There will be healthy, tasty alternatives.

Thirdly, find a distraction. I used to eat when bored as well, so when I see the signs of craving for unnecessary food arises I do something that I enjoy, whether it be walking, playing video games, spending time with my dogs, etc. Keep yourself occupied and distracted.

My final tip would be to address the emotions. I suffer from depression since I was seven years old (family curse really) and anxiety has been a part of my identity ever since I had one. So I began to deal with it: I worked on the anxiety and the depression is better ever since I've set goals for myself. Everyone is different and has unique circumstances they must face: but it is important to address it and understand food is fuel and not a comfort.

I am really sorry for your loss and I hope you'll soon rejoice in the memories you have of your mom. This is really a difficult time so don't be so hard on yourself: One day at a time is how we should live. If we make a mistake we can always work on it the next day. It took me years to get control over my eating, years filled with slip ups. But if your aim is realistic you can manage as well. We believe in you.

lclarkewalker

Thanks so much for the transparency and insight! Especially you, Feeling. I don't have depression per se, and had thought about subbing foods and haven't implemented that. I know that I like carbs (not so much sweets as carbs in general) way too much. But recently I discovered I like pickled items like beets, artichoke hearts and even pickled boiled eggs. All of which are low cal and healthier in the long run.

I'm going to implement what both you and mystik had to say. Very very good advice!

Now here's something else that's going on.

Does anyone else notice that they get sick when they eat out?

We went to a church social honoring the Pastors birthday last night. Our son was working so he didn't go. Both my husband and I got gut wrenching sick! Stomach pain, extreme gas, and the creepy cruds. I was up several hours drinking chamomile tea.

This morning we both have sore stomachs still and are afraid to eat anything but since our son didn't get sick, we figure it had to be from eating at the social.

This has happened more than once. If we try to eat somewhere that we never ate at before, or eat anything new, we both get sick. More me than hubby though.

Does anyone else find this happening to them?

Later this month we're supposed to attend a backyard barbcue for our sunday school class and I've decided to just bring the meats we're used to (90/10 or 93/7 beef) and a helping per of Hungry Girl faux potato salad.