When we have strong emotions, it`s sometimes easier to turn to things beyond ourselves to help us survive. These coping mechanisms can be constructive, like exercise or blogging, or destructive, like drinking and drug usage. For some sufferers, eating is the outlet they turn to when feeling upset. Emotional eating is a means of soothing worrisome emotions for many sufferers.
For some folks, emotional eating simply means eating a little mac and cheese after a hard day at work. For lots, however, this is a dangerous coping mechanism that can lead to weight problems and health troubles. Many comfort foods are high in calories, sugar, and sodium, which all can lead to health issues when devoured in excessive quantities.
There are many things that can trigger emotional eating. Major life events, or even day to day hassles can push emotional eaters to the fast food drive thru. For some, eating can also be a way of relief from boredom. There is a chemical explanation to emotional eating as well. Many popular comfort foods discharge chemicals or hormones that improve your feelings, so they can be chemically as well as psychologically soothing.
Emotional eating is a hard habit to quit. However, there are man things you can do to help quit this dangerous tendency. It`s important to understand how to tell the difference between real hunger and an emotionally motivated urge to eat. If you know that you aren`t truly hungry, give it some time to see if the urge fades. Emotional hunger differ(s) from physical hunger in a few manners. It comes on rapidly, while true hunger is slower. Actual hunger is a general feeling of emptiness, while emotional hunger will make you crave something specific. Emotional eating is also more likely to cause feelings of guilt afterwards.
Don`t keep unhealthy foods in your home, because it`s much less difficult to fight those urges when temptation isn`t readily available. Try to swap fattening comfort foods with healthier alternatives. Make a list of things you can do to distract yourself when emotional eating strikes, such as go for a jog, take a quick nap, or read a newspaper. Finally, finding the help of a counselor to address the psychological motivations for emotional eating can be very useful.
Entries (RSS)