Take a moment and look through these eight common emotional eating stimulators. Be honest with yourself and identify the ones that cause you trouble. You begin to set yourself free. Eat when you're hungry and not because you're mad. If you're mad and hungry, then go ahead. Most of us, though, get mad and lose sight of our hunger level.
Anger
The Symptoms:
"Road rage" is not a theory to you. You shout at your mate, you hate your boss because you deserved that promotion and didn't get it, and you feel as though life in general has let you down. Yelling helps and so does eating something fattening and creamy.
The Solution:
Anger is an energizing emotion that causes most people to feel that they have to do something. Some people yell and slam things around when they feel angry. This may release tension in the short run, but it can make those around the angry person fearful and wary. Sometimes anger "sneaks out" through sarcasm or offhand remarks. Or it may be displaced onto some one or some thing else. Ultimately relationships are damaged by inappropriate expressions of anger. Some people dissipate anger by eating as well.
Many women learn that showing anger is not acceptable. Anger isn't "ladylike." If you are a person who tries to hide or suppress your anger, you may have discovered that food and eating are a good way to "stuff" anger. Eating provides a distraction from that which has triggered your anger, and the rewarding aspects of eating serve to sedate angry feelings.
You've got to learn to handle your anger in a positive way. Play soothing music on the way home or listen to a good book on tape. Talk to your mate or whoever is causing you to feel wronged and try to get to the real stuff that is going on. Whatever you do, don't reach for something fattening. When you do, you even get to be angry at yourself for giving in the chocolate or whatever you chose to "soothe" yourself with. Anger is difficult because it feels so real, but if you begin to identify it as a trigger, then you can begin to deal with the situation in a positive way that doesn't include food.
Anxiety
The Symptoms:
Your nerves feel frayed. You're worried about aliens abducting you, not being able to pay your taxes and whether or not El Niño is really going to cause floods. You run your fingers through your hair a lot and are prone to sighing.
The Solution:
First, take a deep breath! Forcing yourself to concentrate on your breathing, closing your eyes and breathing deeply for 10 minutes can go a long way towards relaxing you and help rid you of your anxious feelings. Breathing will help center you and give you perspective. Secondly, identify what it is that is causing you anxiety and see what food cravings are associated with these feelings. If a departmental meeting on Monday mornings sends you heading for the powdered donuts, take a piece of fruit with you. You may not be able to skip the meeting, but you can skip the donuts. When the "free-floating" kind of anxiety comes upon you, breath, do what you can, (do you need a new roof on the house in case of El Niño), and let go of the rest. Get plenty of exercise and a good nights sleep.
Boredom
The Symptoms:
We've all been there. Your eyes glaze over, you're furiously flipping channels on the TV and nothing amuses you; you've read all the magazines in the house; "Riven" isn't riviting and somehow folding the clothes is not what you had in mind. It seems at these moments that the only solution is food. Suddenly you're standing in front of the pantry stuffing cookies into your mouth with wild abandon. That isn't hunger, it's boredom and if you're not careful, it'll get you every time!
The Solution:
Create a diversion. Do something else, anything else that gets your mind engaged and off of the food. Exercise is great. Take a walk around the block. If you get out of the house, the chances that you will still want the food when you return are slim. If you can find something else to do for ten minutes, the craving will pass and you'll be in control again. Drink a big glass of water, call a friend or play with the dog. Be responsible for engaging your mind.
Depression
The Symptoms:
You feel blue. You feel restless. You've got a bad case of the blahs. Serious, chronic depression is not what we're talking about here. It's that feeling you get when you haven't seen sunshine for a week. You feel totally grey.
The Solution:
Find someone to talk to instead of trying to eat it away
Often, a good, sympathetic friend is what you need. And better yet, find a good, sympathetic friend and tell that person what's ailing you while you're hiking or walking and you'll probably start feeling much better. Exercise is a known antidepressant and you'll feel better about yourself when you've burned off some of those calories you've been using to ease your depression. Get out of yourself. Give yourself a break. You'll feel much better and break the cycle of feeling blue, eating and feeling even more blue.
Exhaustion
The Symptoms:
You walk around humming the tune "Old Man River", especially the part about feeling weary. You can't get out of bed in the morning, but you don't sleep well at night. The dark circles under your eyes go all the way down to your chin. Does this sound like you?
The Solution:
Exercise, naps and common sense
It feels as though the last thing in the world you want to do is exercise, but it really helps. It calms your mind and engages your muscles. It usually helps you get a better nights sleep and that is critical. Naps are very nice. Don't sleep more than an hour or you won't be able to sleep that night, but if you can catch a few winks, you will feel better. Look at your schedule. Rearrange as necessary, if you can and don't burn the candle at both ends. Whether you believe it or not, they will eventually meet in the middle!
Frustration
The Symptoms:
You've read the directions ten times and you still can't figure out why your modem (printer, cd-rom, tape back-up) won't work and you've been on hold, long distance, for 25 minutes waiting for technical support. You want to throw it all out the window and go have a large ice-cream sundae with whipped cream and nuts, thank you very much.
The Solution
Find one that has nothing to do with food.
Sometimes we need to take a short break so that we return to our project with fresh eyes and a new perspecive. Read a book, watch TV, or take a walk. If you like to work crossword puzzles, you know that you can stare at a clue and not find the word, but the next day it pops into your head. When a problem frustrates you, do something to take your mind off of it and a solution will almost always present itself later. Don't keep beating your head against the wall. You'll want to soothe your "wounds" with food and that never works!
Habit
The Symptoms:
You're standing in front of the freezer with your hands on the premium ice cream. Your eyes are glazed over. You take out a spoon and begin eating. Dinner is over and the evening eating has begun.
The Solution:
Stop what you are doing and focus.
We need habits in our lives. They help us make it through the day without having to relearn a lot of stuff. That's the good news. When we develop bad habits they keep us prisoners, acting out old scripts without thinking about what we are doing. We get so used to eating that ice cream after dinner that we begin to believe we can't get through the night without it. The first time you do something different than you usually do, you'll notice it. The 10th time you preform you new positive behavior, it'll be a habit. Dinner's over and I'm through eating tonight. Be conscious. You can do it!
Stress
The Symptoms:
What needs to be done would take at least 4 hours, you have ten minutes and your whole career depends on finishing this project. You've got a one-shot chance and you're not prepared. Welcome to real life.
The Solution:
Stress is a factor in our modern lives and we start to think that it's natural. Not only do we blindly begin accepting this stress, many of us deal with it by overeating. Stress kills. We certainly don't want to add to our stress by gaining weight and stressing our hearts and bodies. Exercise is a great stress reducer. Find time for 20 minutes a day and you will notice a difference. We can try to control the factors that stress us, but many times we are caught up in deadlines and other situations that we can't control. We have to deal with stress feeling and keep breathing. Look into a meditation class and practice until you begin to relax. Don't eat. It's a stressor all by itself.
Another solution that is NOT listed in this article is:
COME TO 3FC CHAT!!
It has proved to be VERY helpful, as I know several of these situations describes me to a 'T', especially the boredom and anger part. I can't tell you how many times I have done this, Only to feel guilty afterwards. This definitely will go in my Weight Loss notebook to read over and over and over...
