I must confess something. I am an emotional eater. It almost feels like I should say, “Hello, my name is Stephanie and I am an emotional eater.” The great thing about confessing this, however, is to know that I am not alone. We may not talk about it much but there are others out there. So welcome to my club.
I have always known this but perhaps never really admitted to it. I think emotional eaters tend to do that. We may come with up excuses or reasons for eating when we aren’t really hungry but never come to the truth. There is never a good reason to eat when it’s dependent on our emotions.
Some emotional eaters only do it when they are sad or upset. But I have also heard of emotional eaters who do it even when they are happy. If something joyful has happened they tend to think of food as a way to celebrate it. No matter the emotion, good or bad, if a person isn’t hungry and still eats that makes them an emotional eater.
I recently started thinking of ways I could combat the emotional eating. For me I tend to eat when I’m upset or sad. It’s almost like food becomes an escape when something difficult in life has happened. There are healthier ways to deal with emotions, though.
One of the ways I thought of to deal with my emotions is to journal. It helps to get things down on paper. If you don’t really want to save what you are writing about, you could furiously type up your feelings on the computer and once you have gotten it all out, delete it. Another option is to call a friend or close family member. Get it off your chest. You will usually feel better.
Some of the best ways to deal with emotions however, are probably the opposite of adding on calories. You can reduce calories by taking a brisk walk, going for a swim, jumping on the kids’ trampoline, running up and down the stairs, whatever you can think of to release those feelings and do it in a healthier way.
I realize that my striving for weight loss will never happen if I don’t get hold of my emotional eating habits. I’m ready to be set free, how about you?
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