How To Stop Emotional Eating

For many people overeating is simply a habit and a strong focus and change of behavior will be key to weight loss success in these cases. But to say that people who are overweight just eat too much, is not always true.

Sometimes people eat more, for any number of psychological reasons. In a letter that I recently got from a subscriber there is the following line: "I find myself eating sweets when i get frustrated or sad".

Stress, frustration, sadness and depression are just a few emotional triggers which can make a person want to eat more. Eating is then usually associated with these emotions and for this reason they choose to eat more to comfort themselves.

Certain chemicals in the brain are linked to both mood and hunger.

For example, one of the most likely culprits that lurks behind the act of emotional binges is cortisol -- a stress hormone that tends to make people crave sweet and salty food. So, if you experience more stress than is natural, higher quantities of cortisol is produced, leading you to crave for unhealthy foods, and this in turn leads to other health related problems. It's the domino effect.

In cases like these it is wise to resolve your emotional issues first, even if you need to consult a specialist, rather than trying to attack the eating problem first.

And for your own good, try to cope in healthy ways --

• Exercising has the effect of letting the dominoes and the dice fall in your favor. It is the foundation of feeling good and eating healthy. Get your endorphins going, instead of cortisol.
• Eliminate any temptations by not actually buying foods that are going to cause you a problem. This will encourage you to eat better foods and in doing so change your behavior patterns.
• Social support can go a long way toward helping you process your feelings. Put your trust in your family, a close friend, or once again - by seeing a specialist if necessary.
• Keep a diary. This has proven time and time again to have many health benefits beyond mere stress management. This is successfully used to set goals, keep track of daily consumption and to chart progress. Even when failures arise, these are noted, and used constructively, eventually just becoming a bad day between more and more successes. So when you feel like reaching for unhealthy food, reach for a pen and your journal instead.

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