When we have overwhelming feelings, it`s human nature to use things outside ourselves to help us survive. These coping mechanisms can be constructive, like working out or blogging, or negative, like getting drunk and drugs. For some people, food is the outlet they use when feeling negative emotions. Emotional eating is a means of soothing upsetting feelings for many people.
For some folks, emotional eating simply means indulging in a little chocolate after a hard day at work. For lots, however, this is a dangerous coping mechanism that can lead to weight problems and health troubles. Most comfort foods are high in calories, sugar, and sodium, which all can lead to health complications when eaten in massive amounts.
There are many things that can lead to emotional eating. Key life incidences, or even daily hassles can send emotional eaters to the refrigerator. For others, eating can even be a means of relief from boredom. There is a chemical reason to emotional eating also. Many common comfort foods release chemicals or hormones that improve your feelings, so they are chemically as well as psychologically soothing.
Emotional eating is a hard habit to get out of. However, there are several tips to help quit this dangerous tendency. It`s important to learn how to tell the difference between actual hunger and an emotionally motivated desire to chow down. If you know that you aren`t really hungry, give it some time to see if the urge fades. Emotional hunger differ(s) from physical hunger in several ways. It comes on rapidly, while actual hunger is gradual. Physical hunger is a broad feeling of emptiness, while emotional hunger will lead you to hunger for something in particular. Emotional eating is also more likely to cause feelings of shame afterwards.
Don`t keep comfort foods around, because it`s much easier to resist those impulses when inducement isn`t readily available. Try to replace fattening comfort foods with healthier alternatives. Make a inventory of things you can do to amuse yourself when emotional eating hits, such as go for a run, take a brief nap, or read a magazine. Finally, seeking the help of a therapist to address the psychological motivations for emotional eating can be very helpful.
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