Emotional eating, the struggle is real

Emotional eating… it’s a struggle. Even after working on this for awhile, I still have my ups and downs with it. Let me be clear that this is MY personal viewpoint and what I’ve tried. It is not for everybody. I have eaten out of boredom and stress primarily. When I worked nights in the emergency department, my husband would know I was home from work when I was talking to him on the phone because he would hear the crunching of tortilla chips shortly after I walked in the door. Other times I would stand in front of the pantry- not hungry but just perusing what might be available and just starting eating, in my later years I’m a sucker for salty and crunchy.

My first thing that helped me was mindful eating. For me eating with purpose and just being aware is helpful. Before it was mindless and just reaching for whatever would make me feel better. I still have moments where I’m not mindful and could easily eat half a bag of chips. My personal hardest part is once I’ve started, it’s really hard to stop! Even now if I start, I have gotten to a more mindful place where I can stop before half the bag is gone. I give myself a small amount before I move onto something that will actually help me fill up or have a snack to hold me over.

It has been really helpful knowing myself and finding what my particular struggles are and what seems to trigger these eating when I’m not hungry moments. Knowing that I’m worse when I’m stressed, has lead me to develop better stress management. Being mindful of whether I’m really hungry or just perusing and putting thought into that has helped decrease this for me.

I did have a period of time where I needed to minimize some of my really favorite foods in the house. Until I got a lttle better about resisting some strong urges. Tortilla chips were definitely on the temporary list. I had a REALLY hard time stopping, so I needed the temptation gone. This is not a forever thing. I currently have a bag of tortilla chips that I haven’t touched in the house. I just needed the ability to get away from that intense urge that took over. Sometimes I would try to walk away, but I ended up coming back. It just wasn’t a great feeling. I think we should all eat foods we enjoy even if they’re not the healthiest for us. They are meant to be enjoyed in reasonable servings. My suggestion is to have small pre-made portions when possible. Know your limits- don’t take the entire carton of ice cream to the couch. Put a couple of scoops in a bowl to eat.

Also, not allowing yourself to get overly hungry- ex some nights/days at work you are on the go and stopping doesn’t seem possible. The whole stressful day goes by and you haven’t eaten a thing. Typically for me anways, what came next was shoveling in massive amounts of readily available food, which before I prepared for these things was typically the not so great stuff being consumed in mass quantities. YIKES! I learned to come prepared with snacks/something easy to eat so this way I could easily grab it and eat it quickly. When you get that hungry- it is easy to overeat and then also eat more because you’ve been so stressed. I make sure I’m eating regularly to avoid these ravenous overeating episodes after I’m stressed. I keep a bar of some sort in my purse, some dark chocolate, and sometimes nuts when I think about it. These are easy things to always have stocked with you. Just replace after eating! I keep fresh veggies or fruit with me when I know it's going to be a long day.

These are things that have given me a lot of forward progress, and I hope they help you! Be patient. Behavior change takes time. Just keep putting in the work and you will Sparkle Up Buttercup!!