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Be
mindful of your emotional eating
May 22, 2008
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Some
evenings, nothing sounds better than a big bowl of ice cream.
The urge isn’t driven by hunger.
The cause is an emotional need, and it’s one way many
of us pile on the calories and thwart our good intentions
to lose weight.
Emotional eating is a common response to feelings of stress,
loneliness, boredom and anger. That’s when favorite
foods – creamy pudding or ice cream, salty chips or
a slice of cake – seem especially appealing. Eating
eases the discomfort, even temporarily.
Emotional eating can also be a way to procrastinate when there’s
something else you should be doing and aren’t in the
mood, or it can fill the time when there’s nothing to
do.
The problem with emotional eating is two-fold. Comfort foods
add extra calories, and they also tend to be salty, sweet
or high in unhealthy saturated fat or trans fat. We tend to
eat the apple pie instead of the apple, the French fries in
place of a baked potato or carrot cake in lieu of fresh carrots.
There’s nothing wrong with an occasional mug of hot
chocolate on a rainy day, but frequent bouts of emotional
eating can make it impossible to control your weight. What
can you do to minimize emotional eating? Several strategies
can help:
* Stay active. A regular routine of vigorous, physical activity
not only keeps you fit but can also help you keep your stress
level under control. The less stressed you feel, the less
likely you’ll feel the need to lean on food for relief.
* Become aware of triggers. Keep a food diary and record everything
you eat or drink daily for as long as you can. Note the time,
place, amount and type of food you ate. What was your mood
– happy, sad, stressed, or depressed? Who was with you,
and what were you doing? The more information you record,
the easier it is to notice patterns and cues or circumstances
that may be prompting you to eat impulsively.
* Condition new responses. Identify situations that trigger
emotional eating and pair them with new, constructive behaviors.
For example, if working late at night gives you the urge to
eat chips, take a break and go for a walk. Substitute other
activities at times when you feel the urge to eat. Walk the
dog, take a bath, play an instrument or meditate.
* Remove temptations. Keep junk foods out of the house. Put
healthier snack foods in plain sight and make sure they’re
quick and convenient to eat. Set a fresh fruit salad at eye
level in the refrigerator, for example, or keep nonfat yogurt
and whole grain breakfast cereals on hand in lieu of ice cream
and snack chips.
* Get enough sleep. If you’re well-rested, you’ll
be better able to manage stress and less likely to seek comfort
from food.
These strategies are particularly effective when you do them
collectively and consistently.
Food provides us with nutrition, and it gives us pleasure,
too. The problems arise when it becomes an emotional crutch.
Work to be more mindful about why you eat.
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