How I learned that I was an emotional eater....

What exactly is emotional eating? Well, simply put- it is eating when we are not physically hungry. Are you kidding me? That was my reaction when I read this. When I would think about emotional eating, I would picture in my mind a woman sitting on the floor crying with a tub of ice cream. This vision was very vivid in my mind, and I felt so bad for those people. Now, come to find out, more than 75% of us emotional eat. Although I never considered myself an emotional eater, I must admit that I used to eat quite often without being hungry. In fact, I ate lunch for years at the same time whether I was hungry or not. Now that I have learned to watch myself and identify how I am feeling when I am at the pantry door, and ask myself “Janie, are you hungry? I had to practice this for months. And I still catch myself! I did not have the problem of wanting to eat when I was upset or angry like many others. I find myself wanting to eat in between projects, or pure boredom. I had a habit of walking in the kitchen without a mission, and unconsciously opening the panty door! This was such a breakthrough for me with finally being done with my ten pounds, that I made it a part of my signature program in Session one! Yep, a golden guideline is to eat only when you are hungry. Take a precious little pause, ask yourself if you are hungry, and if not, move on.

Emotional eating is very common. Yes, again, let me remind you that 75% of people engage in emotional eating. Most of us, unless trained, do not know how to process an emotion. Anytime we involve using food to cope with our emotions, whether they are positive or negative, we are emotional eating. Yes, and while the food can provide temporary relief, emotional eating often leads us to feel guilt, cause us to gain unwanted weight, and a cycle that can be hard to break. Let’s explore some of the main culprits of emotional eating, how it can impact on our lives, and a few strategies to help you identify when you are about to engage in it.

So, what are some of the root causes of emotional eating? Here are some major culprits.

• Stress. Stress is a major trigger for emotional eating. When we're stressed, our bodies release cortisol, a hormone that can increase our cravings for high-calorie, comfort foods. Eating these foods may provide us with some temporary comfort, but it doesn't help with addressing the underlying reason for the stress. So, eating the bag of chips will feel good for the five minutes while eating them but afterwards, it makes us feel like crap. And the stress will still be there but now we feel crappy because we just ate the chips. (I must laugh, the help screen just told me that my reader might be offended by the word crap…in advance, I apologize). But you will feel like crap when you deal with your stress by eating the bag of chips.

• Unresolved Emotions. Many people use food to numb or distract themselves from unpleasant emotions like sadness, anger, or loneliness. Instead of processing these feelings, they turn to food as a way to temporarily escape them. I call these unidentifiable emotions. I find these common with women. I think it is the “BLAH” feeling and can be a huge problem with eating. We tend to seek out the hit of dopamine to make us feel better. Peanut m & m’s or the bag of pretzels tend to be fun to eat. Again, take a precious little pause…I call it precious because it was something I had to train myself to like LOL. I would literally say “Janie- are you feeling blah and looking for a quick pick me up?” Then, my toddler brain (primal brain that wants to seek comfort and pleasure) would say “yes, pretzels are crunchy, and we love crunching!” I would then start negotiating my prefrontal cortex (adult brain) and the toddler brain. Yes, all in front of the pantry. Quite entertaining. Now, my adult brain wins most of the time. Remember, we are to eat only when we are hungry.

• Boredom. Boredom can lead to mindless eating. When there's nothing to occupy our minds, we often turn to food out of habit or to fill the time. This was my biggest problem. Anytime I had nothing on my agenda and felt relaxed, I found myself wanting to snack. I used to snack before starting dinner! That was silly. I knew we were going to be eating in at least an hour, but I would think it was fine to snack before dinner. It would start out as a few crackers, then some more crackers and sometimes a little cheese. What is most upsetting about the snacking is that it really does make the dinner not taste as good. Food tastes much better when you are hungry. I promise!

• Reward System. Positive emotions can also trigger emotional eating. Our entire life is built around food. Any type of celebratory events, such as Christmas, birthdays, weddings, promotions, often involve indulging in all kinds of foods. We have learned from an early age that celebrating is happy and happiness usually comes with food. This was a big one for me too. Happy, let’s eat something.

These are some of the main reasons that we emotional eat. Of course, loneliness, sadness, and anger, are other triggers of emotional eating. We tend to know these and can realize we are purposely choosing to eat to sooth us. I know, I used to say, "I need a glass of wine". The problem is that when we are in this state of soothing with food or alcohol, it leads to not only over indulging but with the guilt that comes afterwards. This just leads us on a vicious cycle.

Learning some simple steps will help prevent you from going down the “oh so common” path. First, take that “precious pause” and ask yourself if you are physically hungry. True physical hunger is usually a grumbling in your lower stomach. That is where I feel it. If I am emotionally hungry-it is in my chest. Yes, I used to think I was hungry but now understand the difference. In my program, I like my clients to identify the emotion. Is it boredom, sadness, anger, or whatever, then decide what would be comfort them WITHOUT regret. For instance, washing their face, putting lotion on their hands, going outside and sitting in the sunshine, or maybe calling a friend. It only takes 90 seconds for an emotion to run its course. An emotion is a vibration in our body that will go away if we just feel it, acknowledge it, and let it move through you. It is quite amazing to sit there and try to talk to it. Okay, I know, it is a little weird, but it works. Remember, it only takes 90 seconds for it to go away. Go check your mailbox outside inside of eating the cookies.

Do you find yourself eating when bored? How about when you are angry? Let me know!