Emotional eating is defined as “eating for a reason other than hunger usually associated with emotional well being.”
Maybe food has become the fallback of choice. It becomes a programmed response to stress, lonliness, boredome and sadness. Instead of dealing with a negative stressor or emotion in a solution-oriented manner, you may have learned to numb your problems with food. This is not uncommon and it is not beyond help! If you’re aflicted by this you are not alone and I don’t want you to think that you are. How many times have you seen on a sitcom where the main character is having a bad day and neeeds chocolate or ice cream? This is a common reaction to stress. The good news is that a recent research study demonstrated that 85 percent of emotion-based eating was reduced in participants when they learned how to respond to negative emotions with a positive attitude.By changing the way you look at the stressor and yourself you can affect the way you eat and over eat. Truly caring for ourselves tends to get put on the backburner for sources of immediate gratification and indulging in instant gratification can often be mistaken for taking care of yourself. I promise the Big Mac is not taking care of yourself. The bad news is that it takes some hard work—but the payoffs are huge. If they can do it, so can you!