Emotional Eating 101

Emotional Eating 101:

I shared these tips with a client today and may help you too!

When you reach for that candy bar or slice of pizza or cookie or bag of chips because something stressful occurs…Life happens so don’t be too hard on yourself! However, having a game PLAN is always best for emotional eating. Identify if it was actually hunger OR emotion. Knowing that you may experience rough situations which can cause emotional eating or a diet downfall will help you better prepare for it.

Don’t throw in the towel for one mistake, but be more conscious of your decisions. For instance, maybe it was the easiest thing to eat the pizza OR it was just there without other choices OR it was the most pleasurable. If it was most pleasurable, it was eaten out of emotion most likely. Was there a different choice you could have made in that instance? If not, make sure the portion was small. If you have to have something that will “satisfy your soul” like sweets or pizza etc etc. then make sure to always have a “healthier” alternative on hand at all times. For a sugar free chocolate or cookie mix, try Lakanto or Lily’s chocolate which is sweetened with stevia or monk fruit. 1/2 a bar is only about 100 calories with <1 g sugar. It is fatty though so be careful but does contain some good nutrients. Also, try Caulipower pizza or Trader Joe’s has cauliflower or broccoli crust pizzas.

If you are just eating out of boredom or true stress and DO NOT need to eat, then try other strategies such as brushing your teeth, getting lunch ready for kids tomorrow, going for a walk/jog, meal prepping, writing down what you were grateful for the day, phoning a friend (AKA emailing me!). Like I said, just have a game plan set for when you feel like over eating, or eating out of emotion rather than hunger.

Remember that emotional eating comes from self-control or a LACK of. If you are most likely to eat when your willpower is lowest (usually at night), keep away from the kitchen OR keep healthy snacks on hand!