How to Change Emotional Eating Habits

Emotional eaters are in a vicious cycle. They often eat to cheer themselves up when they are depressed. While eating might make some people feel better, it is only a temporary solution. After the eating episode, most people actually feel worse than they did before, because now they feel guilty for having eaten for the wrong reasons. People do not usually eat healthy foods when they are engaging in emotional eating episodes, instead choosing junk food and sweets. However, emotional eaters can learn to stop this destructive behavior.

Instructions

Stop Emotional Eating

• 1

  Recognize when you are eating for emotional reasons. If you crave potato chips or cookies soon after a meal, this is probably your emotional eating response setting in.

• 2

  Keep a food journal. This is not a journal of what foods you ate. This journal is for you to write down your feelings when you want to eat something bad for you. You are trying to learn your emotional triggers. Common reasons are boredom, loneliness, fatigue, anger, guilt, stress and depression. Do this for a week.

• 3

  Replace eating with another activity. The short-term goal is to distract yourself until the feeling of wanting to eat passes. The long-term goal is to change negative thinking patterns. For example, if you eat when bored, think of something to do, like taking a walk. For loneliness, you might need to start small by emailing someone or getting on a social networking site. Exercise can alleviate many of the other reasons why people emotionally eat.

• 4

  Visualize your new self. Set up a goal to stop emotionally eating. Encourage yourself by saying positive things to yourself such as, "I approve of myself, "or "I am going to be fit and trim." Think of five things of which you are thankful. Repeat your positive thoughts daily. Some people write them down and post them where they can see them throughout the day. Picture yourself as a thin person every day, too.

• 5

  Reward yourself. Each time you avert eating for emotional reasons, congratulate yourself. If you use exercise to keep you from engaging in emotional eating, you might want to buy yourself a new workout outfit, for example. If you were lonely, maybe you have made some new friends, which is a reward in itself. Maybe your reward is helping others. You can use what you've learned to help other people stop emotionally eating.