How to Control Emotional Eating

Control emotional eating by weaning yourself off comfort foods.  You may turn to chocolate chip cookies, or rocky road ice cream with a slice of chocolate layer cake whenever you are in a stressful situation, and while the chocolate may seem soothing, the foods are high in sugar and fat calories, which can lead to weight gain and high cholesterol.

Many people crave sweets as comfort, sometimes it is due to stress, loneliness or anxiety.  If you feel your emotional eating is due to a medical condition, contact your physician but if you think it is due to stress then follows these tips.

Step 1:

Take the first step to controlling emotional eating habits by identifying your food triggers.  Break the comfort food friendship, face the mirror and tell yourself that comfort foods are not your friends.

Step 2

Eat three balanced meals per day.  Add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet and eat protein snacks.  Control your stress level with healthy diet and prevent emotional eating habits.

Step 3:

Deal with stressful situations at work by diverting your attention when exposed to stress.  Rather than reach for comfort foods take a break and walk away from the stressful situation.  Do light exercises, such as climb stairs, or take a walk. A simple change of scenery will improve your mood and eliminate your craving for foods.

Step 4:

Eliminate stress with time management skills.  Spend time with family and friends.  Play a game, talk, laugh or sing.

Sep 5 :

Avoid rewarding yourself with food; instead reward yourself with praise for a job well done.  Divert negative feelings caused from stress, put the negative energy into a craft, hobby or set a goal at work and then work towards achieving the goal.   Feel good about your accomplishment and reward yourself for a job well done.  Love yourself.

Tips:

Take all breaks while working and do not skip meals.

Go to bed at same time every night and get eight hours sleep per night.  A rested body is able to control stress.

Comments (3)

paul said:

	... Good tips for controlling emotional eating. 5*
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June 17, 2010
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Cindy Bay said:

	... Wow, great article. So many of us are chronic, emotional eaters and this is very useful advice.
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June 17, 2010
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Carl Benjamin said:

	... This would be hard for me to do. lol
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June 19, 2010
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