Index

No, chocolate is not your friend. In reality, hunger is the reason people eat, except those who have a tendency to eat emotionally. People who eat emotionally are vulnerable to making poor dietary decisions. If you are an emotional eater, you may be struggling with uncomfortable emotions and use food as a reward because you think it makes you happy when you are stressed.

If this happens to you, you should know that no, that food will not release your most toxic emotions, rather, it will imprison them longer with you . So if you tend to eat emotionally, now is the time to develop healthier eating and psychological habits.

Your conscience is the key

Awareness may be the most powerful aspect of change within you, even though the other strategies listed are highly effective as well. Reading this article is a great first step in your awareness;  you know clearly that it is a problem that you must solve and you are educating yourself. 

Now becoming more aware of how the problem unfolds for you personally is the next step. Emotional eating is sometimes called “mindless eating” because we often do not think about what we are doing and allow our unconscious habits or urges to be the ones that have the power of the situation.

You need to learn to eat consciously because you will be aware of what you are eating at all times. But before this it will be necessary for you to become aware of how you feel. What do you feel when you eat? One idea is to keep a food diary and write down how you feel when you are eating … so you will realize that you are eating for the wrong reasons and that you need to deal with your feelings in a more appropriate way first.

Once you break the habit of mindlessly eating food, the following techniques are easier to follow.

Relaxation techniques

When you are under stress, your body may produce higher levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone that causes people to eat salty and sweet foods. If you are under stress on a regular basis and can not relax quickly, it will be necessary for you to realize that cortisol is causing you to want to eat and you will have health problems if you follow that devouring instinct.

You need to learn to manage stress with breaths or by quickly relaxing anytime, anywhere. Meditation, mindfulness, yoga, or Pilates can also help you learn to connect your mind with your body.

Face your problems

Many people use food to deal with uncomfortable emotions like anger, frustration, fear, and other feelings. While we need food to survive, there are healthier ways to cope with upset emotions, such as:

-Talk to a trusted friend or family member

-Write a journal to process feelings

-Exercise

If you use food to calm your feelings in a difficult relationship, try learning assertiveness. If food gives you pleasure because you are in a job you hate, change jobs. Reduce stress in your life and you will stop binge eating.

If these techniques don’t completely eliminate your emotional needs to eat, eat healthy. Eat more vegetables, fruits and vegetables instead of foods that are negative for you like salty foods or sweets.

And if for any reason, you think that you have severe emotional problems and that you cannot manage them yourself, then you should go to a psychologist to provide you with the strategies and skills you need to redirect your mental health, and your physical health as well! 

Elle Mcdonald

I am Elle Mcdonald Specializations in Psychology . Graduated in psychology from the University of Tennessee in 2000. Diploma of Advanced Studies in the Department of Personality, Evaluation and psychological treatments with excellent results.

First Level of Master in Clinical Psychology at the Center for Behavioral Therapists (recognized with a scientific-professional nature by the College of Psychologists)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *