When your hunger prickles you, then it’s time to eat, but, sometimes, people eat to fill their emotional needs. When we are sad, or just feeling a little low, it’s easy to turn to comfort food as a way to make us feel better. Emotional eating is far from uncommon and most people do it sometimes, but it doesn’t actually solve anything and it can be bad for your health. Here are ten tips on how you can restrain yourself from emotional eating and eat only when you really need to.
1. Do eat when you feel hungry
People who eat for emotional reason tend not to eat when they are actually hungry. It’s a habit that they get into and the wrong things trigger their eating. You can, however, train yourself to only eat when your body tells you that you need nourishment. Hold off, until you feel those hunger pangs and you will slowly learn when it’s the right time eat.
2. Keep a food journal
Another tip on how to stop emotional eating is to keep a log of not only what you eat, but also why you eat. This can be immensely useful for you, as it will help you monitor the amount of food that you eat and track your progress at reducing the amount you eat. It will also help you see why you eat and what your triggers are.
3. Establish new habits
Next tip on how to stop emotional eating is to create a new routine for yourself that will help you to avoid the times in the day that you eat unnecessarily. Replace eating at those times with something more active, such as a taking a walk or spending time with friends.
4. Eat small meals throughout the day
It could be that your emotional eating is brought about by mood changes that are being caused by spikes in your blood sugar levels. Eat regular, healthy meals and this will fuel your body all day long and help avoid the peaks and troughs in blood sugar levels and fluctuations in your mood.
5. Concentrate on what you are eating
When you do eat, pay attention to what you are eating. It has been proven that people who eat while watching TV, eat 50% more than other people. Not even realising what you have eaten is a common feature of emotional eating.
6. Give yourself ten minutes before you eat
Here is another great tip on how to stop emotional eating: if you do find yourself feeling the need to eat, but you are unsure if it is real hunger, then hold on for another ten minutes before eating. Ten minutes is all it will take for an emotional craving to subside and, if you still feel hungry, then eat, because you might be hungry after all.
7. Keep the tempting food out of the home
If chocolate is the thing that you eat, when you know you shouldn’t, then clear out your cupboards of any chocolate and banish it from your home altogether. Removing the temptation will make it easier for you to stick to regular meal times.
8. Do not eat just to be sociable
Here is another simple tip on how to stop emotional eating: do not fall into the trap of thinking you have to eat just because someone else is. Research has shown that some people eat just to be polite, but there really is no need for that. If you do not feel hungry then say so.
9. Get support from a friend
Breaking habits and stopping compulsions is harder to do when you try to do it alone, so tell a close friend what you are doing and ask for their support. If you know there someone to talk to, whenever you feel the need to eat unnecessarily, that can be a big help.
10. Understand your emotions
Emotional eating is a temporary way to lessen feelings of sadness or nervousness, and people use the pleasure of eating to mask their true feelings. Accept what the true feelings are and try to address those, rather than eating to just cover them up.
How to stop emotional eating? Do you have other tips?
Stay happy and healthy!
