Find other ways to feed your feelings
You will not be able to control your eating habits for too long if you don't know how to handle your emotions in a way that doesn't include food. Diets too often fail because they provide logical dietary guidance that only works if the eating habits are actively managed. When emotions hijack the process, expecting an immediate reward with food, it doesn't work.
In order to prevent emotional eating, you have to find other ways to mentally relieve yourself. It's not enough to understand the emotional eating cycle or even to understand your causes, even though it's a big first move. For emotional satisfaction, you need alternatives to food that you can turn to.
Alternatives to emotional eating
· Call anyone that always makes you feel better if you're sad or lonely, play with your dog or cat, or look at a favorite picture or favorite memento.
· Expend your nervous energy by dancing to your favorite tune, holding a stress ball, or taking a brisk walk if you are anxious.
· Give yourself a hot cup of tea if you're tired, take a bath, light some scented candles or cover yourself in a warm blanket.
· Read a good book, watch a comedy show, explore the outdoors, or turn to an activity you love when you're bored (woodworking, playing the guitar, shooting hoops, scrapbooking, etc.).
Pause when cravings hit and check in with yourself
About their food cravings, most emotional eaters feel helpless. It's everything you can think about when the desire to eat strikes. Right now, you sense an almost crippling stress that needs nourishment! Since in the past you tried and failed to resist, you conclude that your willpower is just not up to snuff. The reality, however, is that you have more control than you realize over your cravings.
Take 5 before you give in to a craving
Emotional eating appears to be essentially senseless and automatic. You have reached for a bowl of ice cream and polished off half of it before you even know what you are doing. But if you can stop and think for a moment when you're struck with an urge, you give yourself the chance to make a different choice.
· Is it five minutes you can put off eating? Or just one minute to start with. Don't tell yourself that you can't give in to craving; note, incredibly tempting is the forbidden one. Tell yourself to just wait.
· Check in on your own while you're waiting. How do you feel? What's happening emotionally? You'll have a better idea of why you did so, even though you end up eating it. This will help you set yourself up next time for a different answer.
Learn to accept your feelings—even the bad ones
Although the central issue may seem to be that you're powerless over food, emotional eating simply stems from feeling powerless over your feelings. You don't feel capable of coping head on with your emotions, so with food, you stop them.
It can be frightening to allow yourself to sense unpleasant emotions. You may be afraid that, like a Pandora's box, you won't be able to shut it once you open the door. But the fact is that even the most unpleasant and challenging feelings relatively easily subside and lose their power to dominate our attention when we don't obsess over or block our emotions.
Indulge without overeating by savoring your food
You prefer to do it easily, mindlessly eating food on autopilot when you eat to feed your emotions. You eat so quickly that you miss the various tastes and textures of your meal, as well as the signs that your body is full and not hungry anymore. So you will not only enjoy your food more by slowing down and savoring each bite, but you will also be less likely to overeat.
A significant element of mindful eating is slowing down and savoring your food, the opposite of mindless, emotional eating. Before beginning your meal, try to take a few deep breaths, put your utensils down between bites, and just concentrate on the eating experience. Pay attention to your food's textures, shapes, colors and smells. What does each mouthful taste like? How does your body feel about it?
You'll find you enjoy each bite of food much more by slowing down in this way. You can also indulge in your favorite foods and feel a lot less loaded. It takes time to enter your brain with the body's fullness signal, so taking a few moments to remember how you feel after each bite, hungry or fulfilled, will help you stop overeating.
Support yourself with healthy lifestyle habits
You're better able to navigate the curveballs that life eventually throws your way when you're physically strong, relaxed, and well rested. But any little hiccup has the ability to take you off the rails and straight to the refrigerator when you're already tired and stressed. Without emotional eating, exercise, sleep, and other good lifestyle behaviors can assist you get through tough times.
· Make exercise a goal everyday. Physical exercise does wonders for your levels of mood and energy, and it's also a strong reducer of stress. And it is easier than you may think to get into the exercise habit.
· Pursue 8 hours of sleep each night. Your body craves sugary foods that will give you a fast energy boost if you don't get the sleep you need. Having plenty of rest can help with appetite regulation and decrease cravings for food.
· Allow time for relaxation. Give yourself permission to relax, decompress, and unwind each day for at least 30 minutes. This is your chance to take a break and refresh your battery from your duties.
· Communicate with others. Don't underestimate the value of social activities and close relationships. It will help shield you from the negative effects of stress by spending time with positive people who enrich your life.
