Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating is a challenging topic. Because a lot of us do it to some extent. The question is not whether we emotionally eat or not, the question is...to what degree do we do it and to what degree is it affecting our lives?

The pain of emotional eating ranges from a thorn in our side to an avalanche tumbling down a mountain top. Once we are in its grip we don't even realize how drastically it affects the rest of our lives. It can be slow, creeping up one pound after the next, weight gain, obesity, medications, heart surgery, silently we abuse our body until it shuts down. Are you aware if you are emotionally eating?

Need help with emotional eating?

How to Stop Emotional Eating

"Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger," says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. "Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating."

Are you emotionally eating? How can you tell, what are the usual food culprits and what can be done to assist? Lets talk to some experts and explore!

What separates healthy eating with emotional eating? According to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center there are sure fire signs that express emotional eating is taking siege:

1. Emotional hunger is immediate and comes out of nowhere physical. Feeling your hunger pains usually is a gradual occurrence in the body.

2. Often times stress of eating on the run creates emotional eating without awareness of the bodies natural desires. Often overeating before you have even felt that you might be full.

3. If you feel the need to eat without being hungry there is a void that can only be met with certain foods like Ben and Jerry's ice cream or hamburgers and fries only. These particular foods are the only things that will satisfy the craving. If you are truly hungry you are open and available to many choices.

4. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.

5. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.

6. After eating for emotional needs you feel dissatisfied or guilty when you eat because you are truly hungry you will not.

Feeling the body as a sign post to food choices is a simple step in assisting with emotional eating. Sounds simple...but not so fast. The mind consumes most of our day and lifestyle. How can we turn it off...to listen to the body? Experimenting with slowing down before you eat, developing a sensual eating pattern rather than rushed ones, breathing, enjoy each bite all help in bringing attention to the body.

Does it really provide comfort...or just a belly ache? Often times we are taught that food can help us celebrate when we are happy and soothe us when we are sad. As emotions ensue one of things we notice is that we focus on specific foods for certain moods.

"Comfort foods are foods a person eats to obtain or maintain a feeling," says Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois. "Comfort foods are often wrongly associated with negative moods, and indeed, people often consume them when they're down or depressed, but interestingly enough, comfort foods are also consumed to maintain good moods."

Ice cream is first on the comfort food list. After ice cream, comfort foods break down by sex: For women it's chocolate and cookies; for men it's pizza, steak, and casserole, explains Wansink.

And what you reach for when eating to satisfy an emotion depends on the emotion. According to an article by Wansink, published in the July 2000 American Demographics, "The types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer ... foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips."

So slowing down and checking in before you eat might assist with the emotional pull.

Many other healthy ways to nurture the body when we are not hungry might help with symptoms caused from emotional eating. Emotional Eating DiscoveriesAs you begin to listen to your body and feel the needs of your body you can shift and heal desires for food stemming from mental manifestations...rather than hunger. Taking the time to sit and do either a breathing exercise or a meditation before you eat can assist with emotional eating. Comfort Healing Meditation Further meditations for support

Heal your emotional eating with Raw Superfoods

Sugar

Do you reach for ice cream, chocolate, candy when you feel emotional. Does sugar consume a large portion of your calories per day?

Did you know that if sugar were to try and be approved by the FDA food and drug administration today it would not qualify as a food. It would be deemed a drug.

Do you use Sugar when lonely, sad, happy, stressed?

Do you use sugar when you feel let down, frustrated, or perhaps you just long for sugar. You might be a sugaroholic?? Sugar Addiction Is emotional eating an issue for you and what can you do about it

"We all eat for emotional reasons sometimes," says Jakubczak, who has talked to college students at the University of Maryland about emotional eating.

"When eating becomes the only or main strategy a person uses to manage emotions, explains Jakubczak, then problems arise -- especially if the foods a person is choosing to eat to satisfy emotions aren't exactly healthy."

"If you eat when you are not hungry, chances are your body does not need the calories," says Jakubczak. "If this happens too often, the extra calories get stored as fat, and too much fat storage can cause one to be overweight, which may present some health risks."

Especially amongst college students, over 75% according to Jakubczak are eating to overcompensate for emotions that are not dealt with appropriately.

Often times leading to more sever addictions like alcoholism or diet pills to assist in the overeating.

According to an interview with Jakubczak on the University of Maryland web site, 75% of overeating is caused by emotions, so dealing with emotions appropriately is important.

Recognizing Emotional Eating

It is important to begin to learn to deal with your emotions in healthier ways other than food.

"Oftentimes when a child is sad, we cheer them up with a sweet treat," says Jakubczak. "This behavior gets reinforced year after year until we are practicing the same behavior as adults. We never learned how to deal with the sad feeling because we always pushed it away with a sweet treat. Learning how to deal with feelings without food is a new skill many of us need to learn."

How can you manage emotions

1. Pay attention to whether you are eating for hunger or for emotional triggers.

2. How many ways can you comfort yourself besides food? Write down any ideas you could implement to nourish yourself other than food:-Go to the gym-Take a yoga class-Go for a walk-Sit under a tree-Read a book-Journal-Call a friend-Breathe-Learn a new hobby-Express yourself creatively-Write a story-Build something

See if you can add to your list anytime you need to. Be creative!

When you do get the urge to eat when you're not hungry, find a comfort food that's healthy instead of junk food. "Comfort foods don't need to be unhealthy," says Wansink.

So if you are to eat comfort foods. Enjoy, eat slow, be sensual, bring joy to your nourishment.

And this is the best way to assist with eating for comfort. We often associate certain foods with certain emotions. Slowly integrating new higher quality foods will also make a difference in your associations with eating. Try integrating high quality dense nutrients into your lifestyle. Help with healthy food choices with raw superfoods Entering into dialogue with your body can assist with your intimacy and inner desires for health. Nourish the soul, listen to the body and feed your creativity!