Hi everyone! So I frequently hear people about "stress or emotional eating". I was wondering what everyone thinks would be a good strategy to prevent yourself from eating emotionally?
I feel that distracting yourself and positive thought/self talk may help. Also what are your thoughts on what causes an individual to eat emotionally?
Stress,anxiety,depression being very much in pain feeling life is just not worth living in this constant.pain anymore, having pip assessments and waiting for the answers, loads of things.
I find all of those to be true in terms of increasing chances of emotional eating. What are your thoughts on how to prevent yourself from emotionally eating?
It’s really important to understand why your are emotionally eating. Otherwise any distraction technique is just a cover up and you will only find yourself going back to the food eventually. How about keeping a diary of your feelings when you eat? Ask yourself before you eat “how am I feeling?” If the answer is not hunger then what is it you are actually feeding? Example feeling lonely in the evening - reaches for the biscuits. By building up a picture maybe you can start to understand what leads you to comfort eat and then you can address those reasons? Xxx
Hi there, I think that you have to realise that 'comfort' eating is in fact the opposite as it is increasing your unhappiness, so you have to see the sweet treat that you are reaching out to as really exacerbating your situation.
I'd try going for a walk to relieve tension and stress and have a big bag of grapes so if you do comfort eat at least grapes are packed with nutrients and not empty calories.
You have to change your relationship with food to break this cycle and you can get professional help through your Dr which would be a good thing to do in my opinion.
I wish you well with this and you you are not alone.
Jerry 😊
Hi iloveorang
Welcome - I haven't got anything to add to what others have already said, except to say that I hope today is a good day for you. Wishing you the best.
Zest 
In my opinion, the issue of stress/emotional eating has been blown out of proportion. We eat because we feel hungry. Stress/emotion may be a small part to play here. Feeling hungry between meals indicates that we have not eaten right meals.
Review your diet and see if you are eating healthy stuff. It will be extremely hard not to overeat when consuming wrong kinds of foods e.g. ones with excessive carbs and low or no fat including all processed and sugary ingredients. One is always going to fail no matter how hard one tries to prevent it. The solution should focus on CHANGING THE DIET.
I think it's preferable to use food as an emotional support than tobacco, alcohol, gambling, promiscuous sex or excessive shopping. We have to eat to live and, while not easy, it is possible to adjust our eating habits to healthy ones. It's far more difficult to find substitutes for the other things.
I think it is important to understand why you over eat. A book I am currently reading talks about people who are constant worriers who turn to food - if this is the case then learning to get worry under control going to help.
I tend to make sure that I am full up when I go and do my shopping, that way I am far less likely to sneak anything unhealthy into the trolly and also something I found really helpful is to make sure there is nothing unhealthy/sweet in the cupboards, so there is nothing to binge on : >
I agree with a lot that has been already said.
I think we use food for everything celebrations, upset, anxious, angry or happy, as children we often saw sweet stuff as a reward. Now a days food is everywhere just walk down your local high street. We should try to be okay with feeling empty and not reach for food at the first hunger pang. I try hard not to eat snacks between meals.
Something I say to myself is why do I want that biscuit chocolate etc, am I hungry or upset angry etc if I am how can I sort it. Speak to the person am upset with etc or go for walk, bath to think it through. This helps me stop and think before it ends up in my mouth and on my hips.
Not sure if this is any help but good luck and keep going cause we can all do this 😀
Thank you everyone for the wonderful feedback and valuable tips! I agree with everything said above. Always good to share ideas and help others learn. I especially liked the idea about the bag of grapes. What is everyone’s go to healthy snack?
I use to turn to food bc I was depressed and sometimes just bored. I now go to counseling to work through my feelings instead. I also needed meds bc I’m bipolar. When I’m wanting to turn to food for anything other than to nourish my body, I will read a book, work out, or have a tall glass of water. I wish you the very best.
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