For many of us, it is a natural reaction to turn to food when we are upset, happy, sad or depressed. Over time, this reaction becomes a learned activity that we resort to without even realizing it. Whether your parents used food rewards when you were growing up or you learned the behavior on your own, emotional eating can really derail your diet plans. However, there are ways that you can overcome this issue and get back on track for healthy eating.
Before you even get started, you'll need to write down the reasons behind your emotional eating. Sometimes, just seeing them on paper makes it easier to get a handle on the problem. Take one week and keep a food journal. Write down absolutely everything that you eat, as well as making a note about your mood at that exact time. By taking this step, you'll be able to target which foods you turn to when you are in different moods. Don't be ashamed if the amount of food seems like a lot - we're going to fix that.
Now that you know which foods you turn to and why it's time to start working on the actual habit. Now, for many people food is an actual addiction, just like a drug. And, when you're combating drug abuse, especially with serious drugs, going cold turkey is extremely difficult and stressful. This can backfire for an emotional eater and they can easily end up binging when the stress levels get to be too much.
So, let's look at a food addiction like a heroin addiction. When a heroin addict is trying to quit, they go through some hideous withdrawal symptoms. In order to help them through this stage, doctors will prescribe a drug known as methadone. This is intended to work as a bridge that will help the drug user step down from heroin to a lesser drug. Once they get past the need for heroin, they are weaned off of methadone.
While food may not be as dangerous as heroin, we can learn a lot from this process. You need to create a bridge food that will replace the foods you turn to in an emotional crisis. For example, if you eat ice cream when you are upset, throw it all away and replace it with frozen yogurt. You're still going to get that benefit of a comfort food, but it's a lot more healthy. Once you find that it's easy to replace your ice cream with frozen yogurt, you can then wean yourself from this with something else that is even healthier.
By taking the time to slowly wean yourself from the foods that you turn to in an emotional crisis, you're much more likely to be successful at giving up your addiction. It's not going to happen overnight, but with time and patience, you can stop turning to food as a drug. We also recommend counseling during this process to get at the roots for your reasons for emotional eating.
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