How To Stop Emotional Eating, Part 1 — Break The Chains!

September 11th, 2010 | Posted in Diet tips | No Comments » | Share this article

We’ve all been there — even those of us who haven’t faced actual problems with emotional eating have probably turned to food at one point or another in a way that wasn’t just for nutrition, to stave hunger, or for enjoyment.

And if it wasn’t food, it could have likely been something else — cigarettes or alcohol being the two biggies.

But why does emotional eating happen?

And how can we deal with it?

I’m here to talk about some of the main issues, and I’m going to do it over the course of two articles. This is the first one, and part 2 will shortly be posted right here.

Food as Addiction

There’s no concrete evidence that food is actually “addictive” (in the clinical sense), but there are certainly some studies out there pointing to the fact that food — and some foods more than others — have addictive qualities. What that means is that biochemical reactions can happen in our brains that can actually cause further desire towards that food.

This isn’t a big newsflash or anything — I’m sure a lot of you feel that way about chocolate, for example. But where it gets wild is when we look at the kinds of foods mentioned in a book like The End of Overeating, written by a former FDA commissioner, who talks about the food industry executives who push “fat, salt and sugar” as the building blocks of successful “food products”.

They know that these kinds of flavors and stimuli will lead to further eating — it’s practically hard-wired into our brains — and it’s been taken into strange territory when it comes to the marketing of these new products.

Kessler (the former FDA comish) calls it “highly palatable foods hijacking your brain”. It’s not just a simple willpower issue — there are big forces at work here getting you to eat more, and if you’re susceptible to emotional eating, it’s likely these are the foods you’re going to go for.

Accept this fact — that certain foods have chemical properties that make themselves addictive — and let’s move onto some of the triggers that can get us overeating these kinds of foods.

Eating Triggers

There are many different triggers, but I want to isolate a few of the most important ones to talk about here. These are the biggies:

Social. This is when you eat because you’re in company. There are tons of people who offer you food everywhere you go, and even if you’re not really hungry, you (for whatever reason) don’t want to refuse offered food. Or you’re loath to not finish a proffered plate at a guest’s house, because you were raised to see it as bad form.

This can also just be the simple act of going out for food together, especially for support — if you’re used to having a bunch of beers with the guys or a big meal with the girls while you all catch up, this is a social trigger. And these triggers are often so built-into ritual and ceremony that we don’t even notice them. It’s like we couldn’t imagine not having that pint or eating that sundae with our pals — but if it’s detrimental to our diet, why are we doing it?

Situational. This one is similar to the “social” one above — it’s when you eat because the opportunity presents itself. If you’re out somewhere and you pass by a particularly enticing place, or you’re nearby a restaurant and it’s anywhere near “meal time”, you automatically switch into “let’s get some food” mode. While there’s nothing wrong with popping into a great little bakery for a croissant once in a while, acting on those impulses consistently means you’ve surrendered your decision-making entirely to whatever situation you find yourself in.

Stuffing Emotions. This one is tougher — eating a lot of food and getting that feeling of satiety (or being stuffed) can literally stuff other emotions. It can take the focus off whatever we’re feeling and make it a lot easier to forget, postpone, or ignore inconvenient or difficult emotions that we just can’t deal with.

Identify Your Triggers

Figure out what your triggers are. When you find yourself eating too much, sit down, and start identifying your patterns. One of the best ways to do this?

Write it down.

Write down as much as you can when it comes to your eating — pretend you’re a sociologist studying the patterns of your life for a prestigious academic journal that’s going to shake up the science world, and write it down from that perspective. It may seem silly, sure — and it also may be exactly what you need to make a change.

Set Physical Limits

No matter how good our intentions, it’s often only when we have physical limits on what we can do that we make consistent changes. If you find yourself binging on a particular food or emotionally eating something you know you shouldn’t — eliminate it from your house and surroudings. If you have to walk or drive to the store every time you want to go overboard on a bag of potato chips, that small act of going to get them might be the prevention you need.

And be conscious, as you’re buying, of the reasons you’re giving yourself for buying this food. Think about what you’re doing as you put the bag of chips into the cart. Think about it closely, identify the excuses you’re making in your brain, and then take it out and put it back on the shelf. It’s not “just in case”. It’s not “for when friends drop by” or “emergencies” — it’s a trigger food that you’ll act on if you don’t make the choice to never bring it across the threshold of your door — right now.

Do Something Else

Finally, when you’re facing a big problem and you’re about to reach for the food, or you’ve figured out the habit you keep falling into — break that habit!

Do something else — literally get up and walk out the door, pick up a book, go and meditate, go wash your car — it doesn’t matter, but just make sure you’re actually doing something else instead.

You can do it!