How To Stop Emotional Eating

How To Stop Emotional Eating - There are times we eat out of boredom, stress, anxiety, loneliness. Eating due to these reasons and not when we are hungry is what is described as emotional or stress eating. It is a situation where food is used to overcome a particularly negative emotion. Not only is it a bad habit, it is also very harmful to ones health as it can lead to obesity and even diabetes.

Bearing these in mind, herein are ways to counter the urge for emotional eating:

Emotional eating is a sort of mindless. It is not necessarily a conscious or well-thought-out decision as you dont realize what you are doing due to stress or habit. Awareness is the key factor in kicking this habit. This awareness involves knowing the cause of the problem and how to react or fix it without resorting to food. One way of doing this is to keep track of what you eat when you eat, the quantity you consume, and which emotions trigger the desire to binge on food.

Identify whether you are actually hungry or just want to eat out of boredom. This way you are able to better control what you eat and why. By knowing why you actually want to eat, you are in more control of what you eat, stave off the accumulation of unnecessary fats, and stay healthy. So eat only when you are hungry and go for healthy and nutritious food options.

Emotional eating is an escape valve. People usually do it instead of dealing with the emotion or stressful situation that triggered the eating. The more you ignore your negative emotions, the more you eat or do something with long-term harmfull effects to avoid them. Work through your emotions, sort them out, accept that things are as they are and try to chart a way forward or way of turning the situation around. Find healthier ways if dealing with negative emotions.

Stress increases the level of cortisol in the body wich in turn increases food cravings. Deep breathing, yoga, meditation are some of the stress-relieving techniques that can help you deal with emotional eating. Deep breathing helps reduce stress and anxiety by causing your body  to release endorphins (the fell-good hormone), relaxing your body and mind and taking your mind away fromm stress eating.

After knowing the cause of your emotional eating, find better ways to cope. If you are feeling lonelu, make more time out to spend with friends and family. You could also read a book, play with your pet, listen to music or engage in physical activities that would overcome the boredom and stress.