Wellness Positive

  Emotional Eating can become one of the biggest threats to your weight loss efforts. If you crave food when you are angry or depressed - that is if you're eating is triggered by emotion rather than hunger then you're an emotional eater. Emotional eating can be a way of avoiding thinking about problems or taking the actions responsible to solve them. An emotional eater might just tend to eat whenever sad or confused or angry. It is important to deal with emotional eating because it can completely ruin your weight loss efforts.

So how do you know that you're an emotional eater?

  You're an emotional eater if you often eat after an unpleasant experience even if you aren't hungry; if you always desire certain foods such as chocolate (for example), when you're feeling sad or depressed. Another sign of emotional eating is when you often eat without even realizing that you're eating and then feel guilty about it later. You might also be an emotional eater if eating your favorite foods makes you feel better or less focused on problems when you're upset or depressed.

  Lastly emotional eaters tend to eat even in response to subtle suggestions like seeing food prepared or consumed on television - emotional eaters also tend to eat for want of anything better to do.

HOW TO DEAL WITH EMOTIONAL EATING:

  If one or more of the characteristics described above applies to you, you might be an emotional eater. If you are, it is important to deal with emotional eating, not only because it might sabotage your weight loss efforts but also because it leads to downward spiral.. Depression leads to emotional eating, which leads to you're becoming overweight, which leads to depression, and from there to MORE emotional eating.

  An important step to counter emotional eating is to learn to recognize whether or not you're really hungry. True hunger is an actual physical need to eat - true hunger does not involve the mind. If you are truly hungry then the physical need to eat will become almost painful if you persist in not eating for a few hours. This is actually distinct from emotional eating where your mind presents you with images of food so that you crave food and desire it mentally rather than physically. The easiest way to find out whether you are really hungry is to put the urge to eat 'on hold' around 15 minutes or so. Do something else, something that occupies your thoughts or interests you or engrosses you in doing it and then after 15 minutes or so if you find that your thoughts have moved on and that you don't want to eat any more, it was probably just a mental craving rather than a physical need to eat. If you are still hungry after 15 minutes then it is real hunger and you should eat something nutritious and well balanced (NOT snacks or junk food) to satisfy it.

  There is another habit that you have to break if you're an emotional eater. Noticed how we are 'trained' from early on in our lives to eat at specific times, whether or not we're hungry. This is dangerous to a person who is trying to lose weight because it makes your body want food even if it doesn't NEED food. Break yourself of the habit of eating according to the clock or according to social norms or when your best friend offers you a treat and 're-learn' how to recognize real, physical hunger, and ONLY eat in response to real hunger.

  Now this will not be an easy process because society, television and perhaps even people around you still 'push you' into eating at certain times, or T.V. advertising may try to push you into trying any food whether or not you're hungry or a friend may bring round a box of chocolate when you are feeling depressed. Stay alert for these things, resist them gently but firmly and don't worry if you trip up now and then - we all do. Focus on the positive, focus on progress, WORK AT bettering your progress.. and you'll find that over time you become far more attuned to your body and that you recognize it's genuine needs far better than the 'artificial' wants and cravings pushed on you by society. Become attuned to your body and you will greatly enhance your weight loss efforts because after all, who could know your mind and body better than you?