4 Ways To Stop Emotional Eating

Do you tend to gravitate towards food when you’re happy, sad, nervous, excited, depressed, or bored?

As a society, we have become more and more disconnected from our bodies and have made our social gatherings, meet-ups, and idle time an opportunity to chow down, even if we’re not hungry.

This obviously leads to an excess of calories and unwanted fat on our bodies. In addition, we start to look food not as nutritional nourishment, but rather, a way to feel comfort, celebrate, relieve stress, or pass the time.

I don’t blame you, though. When we eat, our endocrine system (in charge of our hormones), releases a hormone called serotonin, our pleasure hormone. It feels GOOD to eat! Our body relaxes, serotonin kicks in, and the food gives us energy to keep moving forward in our day.

But if you’re not careful, you might fall into the following scenarios of emotional eating:

• You disconnect from eating due to distractions (eating with friends, watching TV, scrolling social media)
• You no longer listen to your body cues of fullness and continue to eat more than you need to
• You constantly think about food all day
• You attach your emotions to food and have no other solution to cope but to eat
• You look to food for comfort, happiness, or stress-relief even though you’re not hungry
• You beat yourself up for not being at your fitness goals and punish yourself through either stuffing your face (the complete opposite of what you want to do) or not eating at all (which can lead to worse problems like eating disorders)

If you fall in one or all of the scenarios listed above, my hope is to give you 5 ways you can stop emotional eating.

Tip #1: Create An Alternative Distraction

This tip is for those who constantly think about food and/or use food as a way to pass the time. Just like how granny likes to knit while watching TV, or how a smoker needs to play with a pen before they take a smoke, we can have a tendency to want to do something with our bodies other than just sitting there.

Take, for example, watching mindless TV. You’re not completely engaged, and you’re still bored, so what do you do to pass the time and make things just a little bit more exciting? You eat.

And if you’re like the majority, you’ll probably want to munch on some crunchy salty chips rather than a bowl of carrots.

Everyday moments like these are common for all of us.

To stop this tendency, you need to first become aware of it, then create an alternative distraction.

Here’s a personal example.

I’m currently studying to become a Certified Nutrition Coach and after 1 hour of intense focus reading my textbook, I like to take a break by munching on something.

When I saw this tendency within myself, I had to stop and ask myself: “Am I hungry? Or, am I gravitating towards the kitchen because I need to relax my mind, unwind, and distract myself from all the studying?”

I realized it was the latter.

So, instead of heading towards the kitchen, I instead try to do errands around the house, such as folding laundry, doing dishes, or getting other stuff done.

The point is to become aware of your tendencies and create positive healthy distractions that can equally fulfill the emotion you’re looking for.

Another example that most of us can relate to is rewarding ourselves after a long, stressful, and exhausting week through food. Or, maybe you were SO GOOD following your meal plan that you DESERVE an epic cheat meal.

Whatever the case may be, your goal should be to fulfill that emotion of “achievement” and “celebration” through an alternative way other than eating that won’t totally ruin your goals.

Remember, serotonin is that pleasure hormone that makes us feel at ease and happy when we eat.

We can still get that same feeling, and produce serotonin, through watching a movie, getting your nails done, going shopping, or hanging out with a bestie.

Call To Action: Become aware of those everyday moments when you’re thinking about food and ask yourself, “Am I hungry or just trying to feel (fill in the blank)?” If it’s the latter, figure out ways to feel that same emotion through an alternative activity.

Tip #2: Eat Foods Full Of Protein, Fat, & Fiber

Here’s an interesting digestion fact: From quickest to slowest, our digestive tract digests carbohydrates, protein, fat, and then fiber.

This is why eating a rice cake or a piece of fruit will leave you feeling hungry in 30 minutes, whereas eating a chicken kale salad with avocado will make you feel fuller longer.

This is important for us to know because we will tend to munch on MORE food if we’re not eating enough protein, fat, and fiber due to the fact that carbs will empty out our system the quickest.

Think about a time when you perhaps had a simple fast-digesting carbohydrate snack (e.g. crackers, chips, cookies) to hopefully keep you full until lunchtime, but ended up thinking about food just 30 minutes later.

It’s not the fact that you can’t control yourself to stop eating, it’s the mere fact that our bodies will digest quick-digesting carbohydrates faster than all the other macronutrients.

It’s important to point out that this very fact is beneficial for you if you need a quick snack before a workout. You don’t want a heavy meal sitting in your stomach when you’re taking a circuit class or doing HIIT training, so opting for a quick-digesting snack like a carbohydrate-dense food is a good idea.

Now that we understand the rate in which we digest our food, it’s important for you to opt for foods that will keep you fuller longer.

Here are a few examples of great meal or snack options that are full of protein, fat, and fiber:

• Kale chicken salad with avocado
• celery/apple with almond butter
• Protein shake with spinach and chia seeds
• Spaghetti squash with sausage and goat cheese
• Steamed vegetables and fish, nuts on the side

Call To Action: The next time you plan out your meals for the week, make sure that you’re including all macronutrients to have a filling balanced meal with carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber.

Tip #3: Eat sloooowwwly

The next tip to help you stop emotional eating is to eat more slowly and mindfully.

Have you ever timed yourself on how quickly you eat a meal? I’ve noticed myself be able to chow down a huge meal in just MINUTES!

And then I ask myself: “Where did it all go? I want more!”

This can usually happen when we’re eating out with friends, watching TV, or allowing food to be more of a pass time rather than the main event.

It takes our brains to catch up to how much we’re eating, so if you ate a little bit slower, it would be able to signal to you that you’re full and satisfied.

You should create eating like the main event of a show. You’re full engaged in your meal, you value every single bite, and you really take the time to taste and enjoy the food that’s passing through your mouth!

My boyfriend is probably the BEST example of what NOT to do. He gets the BIGGEST bowl from Chipotle, sits down in front of the TV, and literally (I mean LITERALLY) inhales his food in maybe less than 7 minutes. I really don’t even think he tastes it because it immediately goes down his throat and into his stomach.

Don’t do what he does!

Call To Action: Become fully aware of your meal, and take your time eating and enjoying your food.

Tip #4: Keep A Food & Emotion Journal

The best way to accurately measure how much your emotions are attached to your food, it might be beneficial to keep a food & emotion journal.

Whether you like to use a digital app like My Fitness Pal or using a handy dandy notebook, start tracking what you’re eating throughout the day and what emotions you have before, during, and after your meal.

Do this for 7 days and you’ll be able to see the patterns of emotional eating emerge.

For example you can write:

Yogurt parfait (feeling energetic, happy, I made a great choice)

Donut hole & coffee (was tempted by coworkers, didn’t have a snack prepared, feel super guilty)

Greek salad (made this at home, super proud, felt hungry a little after)

Cheez-its (was bored at work and had nothing to do)

Pasta & wine (felt stressed and needed to wine down with some comfort food)

As you can tell, overcoming emotional eating is all about increasing your self-awareness and witnessing the patterns you’ve created for yourself.

Once you discover those patterns, then you can make subtle changes to overcome or combat those tendencies and start to improve your life.

Call To Action: Commit to logging your food intake & emotional state every single day for 7 days. Find out the patterns you have and create solutions to overcome them.

Let’s Wrap This Puppy Up

I hope these 4 ways will help you learn how to stop emotional eating for good and change your eating habits for good! Remember, these things take time. Be patient with yourself and don’t beat yourself up if you fail.

My goal for you is to help you change your mindset about food. Rather than looking at it as a way to feel a certain way, I want you to look at food as nutritional nourishment.

It will help you look, feel, and perform your best. Certain foods will do better things for your body than others.

Try to eat a well balanced diet with little to no processed foods.

Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re 80% full.

Good luck!

If you liked this blog post and found it beneficial, make sure to leave a comment below to let me know!

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Jenny