Sandra found her weight ballooning 60 pounds after her separation from her husband. While part of the weight gain was in fact tied to the tablets she was taking, the rest appeared to be the effect of what can be described as emotional eating. In recent years, greater consideration has been focused on the dilemma of emotional eating for both women and men. Actually, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating. According to Women Today magazine, it has been estimated that as much as 75 percent of overeating is attributed to the emotions.
For a number of people, overeating stems from worry. For example, if you find yourself consuming an entire bag of potato chips, it’s possible that worry is the source. While various people realize that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an antidote to anxiety, they may not comprehend that indulging in comfort food in order to fight anxiety can be hazardous too.
In other cases, overeating may be the result of misery. If you feel tired, desperate, and have lost interest in your typical activities, you may be suffering from a depressive period. In order to deal with these unpleasant feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up. The difficulty is that the food can lead to weight gain, which can lead to more misery.
At times, overeating may be a symptom of monotony. An individual may figure that he or she has nothing better to do than eat too much. This can be specifically true when one is watching television or surfing the Internet. Rather than trying to determine a cause for the boredom, an individual may just try to “fix” it by indulging in high-fat, high-calorie food.
How do you identify if you are an emotional eater? Ask yourself some important questions: Do I tend to eat when I’m worried? Scared? Sad? Do I find that eating lifts my feelings? Am I spending more time eating than engaging in other activities I enjoy? Do my binges come after I’ve suffered displeasure? Am I turning to food in order to deal with the death of a loved one…a divorce…or the defeat of my favorite team? If the answers to any of these questions is “yes,” you might be overeating only for emotional reasons.
As soon as you’ve recognized yourself as an emotional eater, you’ll need to take steps to correct your behavior. Perhaps the most useful technique is amusement. In other words, if you find yourself reaching for the cookie jar, find another activity to engage in. The answer could be taking a walk, kickboxing, or dancing. Or it could be something not as much of physically demanding, for instance needlepoint or crochet. The aim is to get your hands…and possibly the rest of your body…moving. In time, you might find the urge to overeat subsides as you become involved with other activities.
Another helpful step you can take is to identify the triggers for your emotional eating. Do you tend to binge in mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or exact before bedtime? Are you snacking while watching television, while at the PC, or when you’re sitting in your favorite chair? By asking yourself these questions, you can identify the time of day when you overeat, as well as the location for your binging. With this information, you can learn to re-direct your behavior to less high in calories pursuits.
Still one more effective system is to develop a support network to help you combat overeating. The members of your support team could incorporate your spouse, children, parents, friends, or other over-eaters. You may even think about joining a support group which specializes in helping those who engage in binge eating. If you feel the need to overeat, contact a member of your support team. Talking through your emotions could provide you with the emotional release you need, making overeating needless.
If your anxiety or depression persists, consider seeing a psychoanalyst. He or she can help you develop more efficient coping mechanisms. If you find it hard to talk to friends or family about your overeating, a psychoanalyst can provide you with the talk therapy you need to overcome your difficulty.
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