Emotional Eating

baberzoo1

Does anyone have any tips on how to stop turning to food as an emotional support? I've been dealing with some intense feelings of sadness lately, and I swear I feel like I have to eat something to feel better. This might sound crazy but I'm sure someone else understands out there. Like it is so incredibly hard to not give in when I am feeling this way, I don't even know what to do.

MissAmulet75

I hear you on the emotional eating problem! I want to eat when I'm upset, mad, sad, and even to celebrate when I am happy about some big event or promotion! argh.

The best advice I ever got was this: Never eat when you are upset or emotional.

Although awesome and logical advice. Telling me not to do something without a game plan doesn't really help.

WHAT helps me most is doing a "hunger scale" & "emotional check" before I eat anything.

EX: When I grab for something to eat, before I go to prepare it or eat it I mentally ask myself:
AM I HUNGRY?
HOW HUNGRY? (scale 1-5)
AND HOW DO I FEEL EMOTIONALLY?

Sounds silly but you would be surprised how often we reach for food to fill certain voids or make us feel better when we are not even hungry.

The trick to overcoming emotional eating is to be aware. Never eating when you are upset. ONLY when you are truly hungry for food, not looking for "comfort"

MissAmulet75

Another trick to do IF YOU REALLY NEED TO ingest something is once you've done your Hunger scale and Emotional check drink a large glass of water to help "fill or satisfy the void"-- a lot of us don't get our daily recommended intake of fresh h20--- so if you practice this after awhile it might stick AND it is def a better habit then emotional eating.

baberzoo1

Thanks I appreciate the reply, those are definitely some good tips. I really need to try and be more mindful. The hardest part for me is that I feel like the food is like a drug and actually heals the bad feelings.

aaglaser

So happy for this site! I am struggling with this tonight and turned here for support and I feel better and I am going to get some water haha.

kristendeyell

I have emotional moments of binge eating, it's awful. I refuse to log it and I end up hating myself for doing it. I'll be okay all day and then I get home after work and I'm eating everything in sight. I have discovered two things. Sticking a piece of gum in my mouth helps because I can't shove food in there if there's gum lol (I usually go for a sweet flavoured gum). The second trick is a cup of tea, a flavoured kind. Currently drinking a loose leaf maple flavoured one that is delicious and has helped me get through the evening without touching another thing in my kitchen!

craftywitch_63

http://www.pockethungercoach.com/

Try this before you begin to emotionally eat. It might help.

onefortyone

I am a big emotional eater, I mean I was even before my daughter died, but now it's really dark and extreme. I feel terrible, and hungry (phantom hunger pains), only bad foods will do (in LARGE quantities) and I don't deserve to be hungry. I have been through enough, why should I continue to suffer? Sometimes I feel like I will be in pain every day for the rest of my life. It's usually later at night that it happens.

My husband supports me and tries to offer me alternatives (a boiled egg? Are you &^$*ing kidding me?), and I take it out on him and let myself cry. I must say, letting myself cry instead of trying to 'heal' with the food might be the best thing I've done. I don't have any tricks, I just don't give myself access to the bad foods I want, by not keeping them in the house, and I cry it out. I usually feel loads better by morning.

michybeans

I hear ya too! I have gotten a lot better with emotional eating but only because I am more stubborn (about getting to my goal) than anything! Haha. I still give in sometimes. Like just now, I ate a whole big chocolate bar (like a BIG one) which was a ton of calories. But you know what... I really wanted it. I craved it, and it tasted really good. So before I would still feel guilty for eating it but now I am just trying to focus on, wow that was really good, yum. And then telling my brain, okay we can't do that again for a little while... Like space out the treats.

I don't know if that helps or not but I find I eat less emotionally when I am more forgiving to myself. Guilt only seems to make things worse. Tomorrow is a new day and I will eat healthy tomorrow. I used to think of today as a mistake but it's not. It just was a day that didn't get me closer to my goal. That's all, just one day where progress didn't happen. That's ok, there's 365 days in year! So this is nothing in the long run. For me, self forgiveness and self-compassion are key for preventing it from happening again. Like I said I did it today but it is quite rare for me now when before I would eat chocolate, sweets, etc way over maintenance about 3-4x a week to make myself feel better. So I think the approx once a month I do it now is quite an improvement! Hope that helps.

Be kind to yourself in your head and your body will be kind to you too.

raggiemom

I know what you mean too. Emotional eating is one of the hardest habits to overcome. Sometimes I simply give in to it, but most of the time, I try to distract myself. I have some water, try to read, go for a walk (it increases the seratonin levels to make us feel better), call a friend, get lost in some mindless game on facebook, etc. And the other poster was right, cry it out!! By the time you're done, you're too exhausted to even think about food. Or another thing that works for me is to write my feelings down; journaling is a great tool!

Hope some of this helps you.

arainiday1

^^^ just wanted to say, you are NOT alone!!! i struggle with this a lot. I gave into it the other day. it was very depressing to feel out of control.... but i logged as much as i could and am moving on. but i agree with distractions, they do help!

hstnljean

http://www.pockethungercoach.com/

Try this before you begin to emotionally eat. It might help.

Will have to check this out maybe it will help when I am tired I don't get the sleep I need on Mon nights so Tue it's almost like I have no control over what I eat - thanks