Emotional Eating

I've struggled with emotional eating since I was a kid. i am now able to control it! And going to the gym is the first thing I do! I wish their was more help out their for emotional eaters!

How are you able to control it? What steps did you take to get where you are?

Emotional eating is tough. I think figuring out how to manage it is a good step. I don't know if going to the gym is a realistic plan. I mean, when you are in that state, you are not thinking rationally in the first place, the reason you go off the deep end and head for fast food palace... kwim?

Maybe the first step is to start putting up boundaries on things that are not important today. For example, this is your old job, not your current one... Who care what happened over there, I mean really, it does not affect your life today, you don't work there anymore. So, any gossip or information about that place is off limits, especially if you know it is going to send you to a place where to end up at Taco Bell. Was it really worth it to get that upset over your old job. I say, ignorance is bliss.

Now, there are things that do matter in life... Thiings that you can't avoid or stay clear of... If you start limiting your emotional responses to those things, you might do a better job of being able to control yourself... and if you still can't, it might not have a huge impact on your health, since [we all hope] these sorts of things are few and far between.

I would say evaluate the thing that is causing the emotional response. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. will this be a big deal tomorrow?
2. does this affect my life?
3. is this my problem?
4. why am I so mad about this?

If it will be a big deal tomorrow, affect your life, is your problem, etc... sounds like it might be something big you need to deal with, so that a Taco Bell run will be the least of your worries. But, while you are at Taco Bell, use that time to get a plan on how you are going to solve or move through the problem.

Like I said, emotional eating is a tough one. Good Luck!

Here's another article. Neither mention emotional eating as related to this "second brain" we all have, but I can't help but feel it is related. Why else do people with depression tend to gain or lose weight? It makes sense to me, but we'll have to wait for the science to back up the theory, I guess.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain