Overcoming Emotional Eating

The first step to overcome emotional eating is to understand the problem first. What is emotional eating? Emotional eating is the habit of using food as a means to repress emotions rather than to satisfy one’s hunger. Most people seem to ignore emotional eating and treat it as nothing serious. However, emotional eating can prove detrimental to the well-being of a person.

Emotional eating is done because of both positive and negative feelings – most commonly, the latter. Apparently, emotional eating causes one to crave for high-calorie foods such as ice cream and cookies instead of the healthier options (i.e. vegetables).

The terrible thing with regards to emotional eating is that after satisfying the hunger, one feels regretful when they realize that the same feelings remain after what they have done. That is why it is best to differentiate physical hunger from emotional hunger.

One difference of emotional hunger from physical hunger is that in emotional hunger, one may crave for specific or particular foods. Another difference is that on physical hunger, one feels full after satisfying the hunger, while in emotional hunger, one seems to be always hungry. There are other differences and one can learn more by reading books or consulting the internet. In dealing with emotional hunger or emotional eating, one should know the different techniques or tips involved so as to stop this bad habit.

Instead of actually eating, one should try other options that would somehow take one’s mind off of eating. The technique here is to replace the craving for food with another hobby that one would most likely find enjoyable leading him to forget the food. As such, it is important to know one’s interests and how these could be done at a particular time of the day or night when the hunger would occur.

In this high-paced technological world, one would surely find an alternative. Another option that one could do is to write these emotions or these feelings that are currently triggering the emotional hunger. In writing these emotions, one would definitely know why he feels hungry and that these emotions are released.

Somehow, writing becomes a therapeutic activity and this would lead to the stoppage of the emotional hunger. Before reaching that food, it also helps that one would take a minute to think about why one is craving for that food. If the reason is too emotional, then one should just stop and look for another activity or look for someone to talk to.

Emotional eating is a habit that needs to be stopped. If one finds difficulty in putting a stop to this, then it is better that one should see a therapist or a psychologist to help talk about these emotions. These professionals are able to offer medical advice on dealing with emotional hunger the most effective way.

Success in dealing emotional hunger can really lead to a more fulfilled life. By knowing how to control emotional eating, one can say goodbye to unusual and unexplainable weight gain. They key to control emotional eating is self-discipline. With self-discipline, emotional hunger will no longer be a problem.