Emotional eating is very common and at the same time very dangerous, as it can lead to different affections such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. Although women are said to be more affected by this problem, emotional eating is also highly spread among men, as well.
Those who eat as a response to their feelings even when they are not hungry at all are those people who suffer from emotional eating. If you are among those who are being dictated what to eat by their emotions and not by their bodies, you should not panic, as there are solutions to your problem. As long as you recognize that you suffer from a very serious affection, you will be able to do something about it.
In order to stop emotional eating, there are some steps you can follow. First of all, you have to learn to listen to your body. This way, you will be able to know when you are really hungry and when your emotions are taking over. Hunger usually gives you signals such as dizziness, a rumbling stomach, and so on. Therefore, if you are experiencing these symptoms, you should eat. If not, you should wait until you get hungry. In addition, you should not confuse cravings with real hunger.
The second thing you can do in order to bend emotional eating is to learn how to identify your emotions. In order to do this, you must find other means of expressing your emotions and not do it through eating. For instance, as soon as a craving hits, you could write down the exact emotions that you are feeling at the moment.
You might be sad, bored, lonely or angry and in turn this could determine you to eat something although you may not feel hungry. By writing these things down, you will begin to recognize certain patterns and in the end start avoiding mechanical eating.
Distracting yourself from eating can also be of great help. In order to do this, you can talk to a friend on the phone, go out for a walk or clean the house, read a good book, and so on. These kinds of things can divert you from your cravings that do not have any real basis.
Another thing you can do is to eat every day at regular intervals of time. For instance, if you eat less important meals once every four hours, you will satisfy your bodily needs and not feel deprived at all. Moreover, if you make healthier choices, you will also start feeling better about yourself and in time you will begin to control emotional eating. Try avoiding as much as you can high calorie foods, unhealthy fats and snacks.
Finally, learn to be patient! Even though stopping emotional eating altogether can seem difficult to do at first, tell yourself that you can do it and do not beat yourself up. Despite the fact that this might not work from the start, you will get a handle on it in time.
