Emotional.Eater.I.Am

Hello, My name is Liz; and I am an emotional eater.

As I battle to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle I gotten to know myself better. I has been quite a journey, seriously. I have accepted that I am an emotional eater – previously I would deny this. Do you deny the ugly truth about your reality?

I have found that many of us do not always eat to satisfy hunger; some eat for comfort, to relieve stress (me), as a reward, by rote or when bored (me), habit (your family always had a night cap of creamed cookies and hot cocoa before bed, and now you just can’t stop it – even though you know the extra calories are doing you in). While the food we reach for does nothing for us – does not offer comfort, don’t relieve stress, aren’t much of a reward nor alleviate boredom; I know from experience that I end up feeling guilty afterwards, the extra food results in extra calories I do not need, and I invariably pile on more weight.

This is such a big part of my life that I decided to spend a few weeks talking about it – maybe we can help each other and reinforce better habits.

First, how did I know I am an emotional eater? Basically, in the course of my readings and my ongoing battle with my weight, I discovered that I actually eat mainly in response to my feelings (emotions) rather than physical hunger pangs. I eat when I am bored, I eat when I have a major project to churn out at work, I eat when I am unhappy or nervous. Other people reward themselves with a stunning dress/shoe or bag, I reward myself with a trip to my favorite Chinese restaurant. What about you? Are you an emotional eater? Let’s find out.

• Do you eat more when you are feeling stressed?
• Do you eat when you are not hungry or when you are full?
• Do you reward yourself with food?
• Does food make you feel safe?
• Do you feel out of control at a buffet table (piling your plate sky high with dishes that really don’t complement eachother)?
• Do you associate some tasks with food - like a plate of cookies and cup of tea when reading through work reports (I am guilty here).
• Do you feel better (calm, soothed etc) when you eat.

If you answered yes to more than two of these questions…[drum roll] chances are you are an emotional eater. Don’t pout… there are things we can do to help ourselves (as I am learning), and habits we can use to replace the reach (as in the reach for another tub of Haagen Daz). And we will talk about these soon…

 

So, are YOU an emotional eater? Admitting it is the first step to curbing it so we can all DROP IT 4 LIFE!

Don’t be shy… share DROPIT4LIFE on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn!

Don’t forget, you can get weekly updates sent straight to your email if you type in your email address in the space provided on the right, and click ‘submit’!

Don’t forget to check your email and activate your subscription!