1. Understanding Emotional Eating
Emotional eating is the act of substituting eating for a healthy expression of emotion. Identifying emotional eating patterns is the first step in stopping this often self sabotaging behavior. Emotional eaters are typically very conscientious individuals who are very attuned to their weight. However, they tend to displace their emotions into their eating habits, and it makes their self esteem and body image issues less than ideal.
2. Emotional vs. Physical Hunger
Emotional eating is markedly different from physical hunger. Physical hunger typically manifests a sensation in the body such as a growling stomach, headaches, an openness to most foods, a deliberate choice of what to eat and a satisfaction from eating the food. Emotional hunger tends to manifest out of boredom, sadness, anger, anxiety, or any host of other emotions. Usually, the emotional eater believes that she must eat to allay the unwanted emotions being.
3. Know Your Motivation
Identifying emotional eating is about isolating the motivation behind the need to consume food. Often stopping before eating and asking oneself whether you are physically hungry, or whether you simply want to eat out of boredom or anxiety is important. Self monitoring is a good way to identify emotional eating patterns and stop the vicious self defeating cycle. Stress can cause overeating to occur and tends to manifest in the need to eat carbohydrates or complex sugars.
4. Keep a Food Journal
Recording your feelings is important in understanding the motivation to eat. Writing down when you feel hungry, or when you have the urge to eat, what you want to eat,and how much is important in identifying the patterns of emotional eating. A food journal helps individuals get a more objective grasp of the issues surrounding their food choices and what causes the urge to eat when not physically hungry.
