Humans have long passed the stage when food was a necessity to stay alive. These days we eat for a host of reasons. We eat when we celebrate, we eat when we are happy and we eat when we are sad. We also try to compensate for our losses with food. If you find yourself heading to the fridge every time you are bored, sad or at a loss, you should know that you have become a victim of emotional eating. Emotional eating is pretty bad as you do not have a check on what you are eating and you tend to binge. Binge eating leads to severe weight fluctuations and can make you sick. Eating does not solve your emotional problems and you should stop eating every time your mood dictates it. Here are some tips to stop emotional eating.
1. Picture yourself as this huge person unable to move every time you succumb to emotional eating
The power of the mind cannot be discounted; every time you head to the fridge or a restaurant picture yourself as this huge person who is unable to move or do anything. This image should be good to stop you from emotional eating.
2. Do something else
If you are prone to emotional eating and you know it, start doing something else. Do something productive, creative or interesting. Anything that would take your mind off the emotional state you are in. You can start painting, sewing or take up reading instead of finding comfort in food.
3. Go for a walk every time you have the urge to eat
If you are feeling low and want to find comfort in food, you should try and head out for a walk. Going out and getting some fresh air will take your mind off of food. Doing it for a long time will also help you develop this into a habit and prevent you from emotional eating again.
4. Strengthen your mind
Emotional eating happens when your mind is weak and you look for an easy way to end your troubles. Keep your head strong and do not succumb to the temptation of comfort food. Find ways to solve the problem instead of going for an easy fix.
5. Do not buy snacks or easy to make foods if you are prone to emotional eating
You tend to eat a lot when you are sad if food is easily available. You are less likely to eat if you have to go to the lengthy process of cooking it from scratch. Do not shop for snacks or other foods if you are prone to binge eating.
6. Look into the root of the problem, do not eat to solve it
Eating definitely cannot solve your problems. Spend the time to your advantage in thinking about how to solve the problem. Do not eat because you are happy too. That can be pretty fattening too. Do not go on a binge once you have lost weight too.