5 Tips for Emotional Eaters
Emotional eating can be tough to overcome. Food can be an easy way numb out from your problems but unfortunately it doesn’t make them go away. It’s normal to want to eat something to feel better.
I want to start by saying EMOTIONAL EATING ISN’T ALWAYS BAD. Food can be soothing because of memories or feelings associated with certain foods. For example, after a breakup, having an ice cream cone can really be soothing and make you feel a little better, even if just for a moment. Emotional eating becomes negative when that becomes your main coping skill, the thing you turn to first and you ignore any other coping skills.
Here’s an example of how emotional eating can be healthy:
You feel sad so you grab a bowl and scoop out a few scoops of ice cream and put the tub away. You eat your ice cream and feel a little better. Once you’re finished, you go on a walk and let yourself work through the emotions you’re feeling. You acknowledge them and let yourself sit in that discomfort. After your walk, you’re still feeling sad and emotional so you put on some music while you doodle or color or paint. You end up feeling a bit better and are able to move forward with your day. Notice how I said move forward, not move on. Sometimes you’ll be feeling sad for a while, but notice how many other coping skills were used. Food was one of the many coping skills.
Where emotional eating goes wrong is when you’re using it to numb out from your feelings, not listening to your body, overeating, bingeing, making yourself feel sick from eating, feeling out of control around food, etc.
Here are a few tips if you struggle with emotional eating:
Think of emotional eating as one of MANY coping skills. Create a list of coping skills that are helpful for you (walking, listening to or playing music, reading a book, coloring, drawing, painting, sitting outside, taking a warm bath, going for a run, lifting weights, talking to a friend on the phone, etc).
Eat a diet high in protein and fiber. This will help with cravings and help you feel full and satiated throughout the day.
Eat three solid meals during the day. Don’t save all your calories for the end of the day which can lead to higher likelihood of overeating or bingeing. Don’t snack all day long either. Eating three solid, balanced meals throughout the day can really help with emotional eating urges because you’ll be feeling fuller and are less likely to have cravings and turn to food first.
When you are emotional and want to eat for that reason, serve yourself one portion of food and put the container away. When you have a whole bag of chips or a whole carton of ice cream, it’s easy to keep eating, eat mindlessly, and eat far more than you normally would. Often this leads to feeling guilt or shame and then wanting to diet to make up for it.
Do some mindful eating exercises. Notice how your food smells, tastes, feels, the temperature, texture, appearance, etc. Eat without distractions so you can fully experience the food you are eating. If you practice doing this regularly, you’ll struggle less when you’re emotional and want to eat.
If you want help with emotional eating, our dietitians would love to help you learn some mindful eating practices and learn how to balance your meals. You can schedule a free call HERE or fill out an inquiry form HERE. We’d love to work with you!
