How to Stop Emotional Eating

Food is fuel for the human body, and we eat it to get ourselves through the day. We also gather around the dinner table to celebrate special events and spend time with our loved ones. In times of grief, it's common to offer food to the bereaved. Is it any wonder that food and emotions are so connected?

Unfortunately, some people feel compelled to eat far past the point of satiety. This is done in an attempt to calm volatile emotions or to fill an emotional void.

The National Institute of Health estimates that 3% of Americans (over 9 million people) suffer from compulsive overeating, also known as Binge Eating Disorder. This disease can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and feelings of intense guilt and shame.

Emotional eaters tend to be guided by their emotions rather than their hunger. Some eat when they are sad, lonely, or bored. Others eat when they are stressed out.

Most are simply carrying on behaviors learned in childhood, when food was associated with comfort and reward. Emotional eating has little to do with actual hunger, and everything to do with unfulfilled needs.

If you think you or someone you love might be struggling with compulsive emotional eating, follow these steps to start the recovery process.

Recognize the signs of emotional eating.

Emotional eaters tend to eat until they are uncomfortably full, and they usually eat alone because they are self-conscious about the amount of food they are consuming. After an emotional eating binge, they might feel disgusted, guilty, or depressed about their lack of self-control.

Learn to identify your triggers.

Every emotional eating episode has a trigger. Think back to a time when you engaged in compulsive eating. Was it a reaction to a particularly stressful day? Were you consoling yourself with food to overcome loneliness or boredom? Were you relieved that a stressful period in your life had finally come to an end? All of these situations can lead to an emotional eating binge.

Discover your true needs.

It's not always an easy process, but if you want to overcome emotional eating, you must learn to recognize and ask for what you truly need. Do you need food, or do you need affection? Do you need food, or do you need to feel appreciated? When your true needs are fulfilled, the compulsion to eat will go away.

Keep a food journal.

A food journal is an excellent way to keep track of your food intake. You can also use it to track your feelings and emotional eating triggers. This will help you identify the thought processes leading up to a binge. Once you can identify these thoughts, you can take steps to change them and head off the next binge before it occurs.

Replace food with other rewards.

Learn to reward yourself with treats other than food. If you need to feel pampered after meeting a stressful deadline, celebrate with a massage or a luxurious bubble bath. If you want to celebrate after losing ten pounds, buy yourself a new outfit or something related to a favorite hobby.

Too many of us turn automatically to food as a reward, forgetting that there are many healthier ways to splurge!

 Talk to someone who understands.

Millions of people struggle with emotional eating, and you do not need to go through recovery alone. Sometimes it helps to hear from others who have beaten the disorder, and others who face the same challenges as you.

5 Quick Ways to Stop Craving Junk Food

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Are you a junk food junkie? 

Maybe you've never met a dessert you didn't love, or maybe you prefer salty potato chips and fries. Either way, if you overindulge, you're loading your body with calories while depriving it of real nutrition.

Junk food is fine in moderation and on special occasions, but what about those cravings that hit you at the most inconvenient times - or, worse, the cravings that just never seem to go away at all?

Improbable as it seems, they can be tamed. Here are five proven strategies for ending junk food cravings.

   Tip 1: Control blood sugar spikes and crashes.

When we stuff ourselves with highly refined carbohydrates, which most junk food tends to be, our blood sugar rapidly climbs. Then, because our bodies process these carbs so quickly, we experience a blood sugar crash.

Low blood sugar increases hunger, urging us to go out and do it all over again.

To avoid this cycle, eat small but frequent meals throughout the day. Never skip meals; recent studies have shown that dieters are more likely to binge on junk food if they haven't eaten in several hours.

To really knock out cravings, combine a healthy fat with some protein and complex carbohydrates, like a tablespoon of peanut butter on whole grain bread. It will be more nutritious and more satisfying than the junk food your body is asking for.

   Tip 2: Avoid artificial sweeteners and MSG.

When we eat sweet-tasting foods, our bodies produce insulin, whether those sweet-tasting foods actually contain sugar or a sugar substitute.

These findings were reported in the British Medical Journal in 2004, along with the result of eating foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners: deprived of the real sugar it was anticipating, the body experiences stronger sugar cravings at the next meal.

MSG (mono sodium glutamate) is a flavor-enhancer found in many prepared foods in grocery stores and at restaurants.

MSG has also been linked to incessant food cravings, including the infamous 'Chinese restaurant syndrome': you eat the food, then feel hungry an hour later.

(It should be noted that many Chinese restaurants now offer MSG-free foods.) Other foods, such as grated parmesan cheese and pre-made soups, contain MSG.

It's almost impossible to cut artificial flavor enhancers out of your diet completely, but you can take
steps to reduce the amount you consume.

Eat natural foods you prepare yourself. Don't consume too many diet sodas. Instead, hydrate with water or decaffeinated tea.

If you crave something sweet, go ahead and have real sugar in moderation. If you give your body a little of what it wants, it's less likely to demand more at the next meal.

   Tip 3: Learn to identify emotional eating triggers.

Emotional eating is a real problem for millions of people. Some people use food as a way to find a sense of fulfillment. Others use it to soothe themselves when they are in pain. This can lead to frequent strong cravings for "comfort food".

Kaiser Permanente just concluded a study on effective treatments for binge eating disorder. They found that food journals are a key element.

By recording what they ate and why, binge eaters were able to identify the events and thought patterns that led to overeating.

These findings can be seen in the April issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

   Tip 4: Cheat (but only a little.)

If you find yourself demoralized by a craving that won't go away, give yourself permission to indulge a little. In the long-run, it's better to have that half-cup of ice cream than to keep denying yourself and obsessing over it.

Simply adjust your plan to include a little more exercise that day, or take away extra calories from another meal to compensate.

   Tip 5: Have a medical exam.

Constant cravings can be a sign of a more serious condition, such as diabetes. A quick and inexpensive fasting blood sugar test will let you know if your blood glucose level falls within the normal range.

Diabetes is highly manageable when caught early, so be sure to have a screening if you have diabetic relatives, or if you experience increased hunger, thirst, or urination.

Junk food cravings can be significantly reduced by addressing the underlying health issues that sometimes cause them.

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