Are you an emotional eater?

Many of us can be an emotional eater. What is an emotional eater? Whenever you are stressed, feeling sad, you turn to food to make you feel better. I know, I have been there. Eating comfort food that is laden with sugar and fat may make you feel good for momentarily but will make you gain weight in long run. So how do you avoid emotional eating? Follow these strategies to stop emotional eating and stop gaining weight.

First of all, let us look at the reasons we might be eating for emotional reasons:

1. Stress (Money, Family, Work, Love, Marriage, Kids, Friends etc.,)
2. Feeling sad or down
3. Boredom (Not having an excitement or joy in life)
4. Being alone, lonely (Broken Relationship)
5. Low self esteem
6. Anxiety
7. Feeling lot of anger or resentment

There could be other problems related to above issues. I have faced most of these issues and most of my emotional eating have been at night time. No more. How? Here are some tips that helped me and it will help you too.

1. Know your trigger points. Before eating know, if you are really hungry or feeling one of the above reasons causing you to eat. 
2. Drink water first. Some times we are thirsty and we mistake it for hunger instead. Drinking water will make you full, hydrated and not gain you any inches or pound.
3. Keep Journal: Keeping a food diary or journal can help you identify what is bugging you and why do you eat those times, helping with process of not eating during those times.
4. Do something else: Find an alternative activities when you feel down, sad or angry instead of eating. Call up a good friend, listen to jokes, or watch some funny videos, read your favorite book etc.,
5. Get your ZZZs: I used to not sleep well and get all junk food during night time, watching all these late night informercials. Now, I try to get my 8 hours of sleep and nap if I can and it has helped me and my energy levels tremendously.
6. Walk it off: Whenever you feel emotional hunger showing up, walk it off. Go for jogging in a park or jump on treadmill instead. 
7. Eat Healthy stuff: If you must eat, eat healthier stuff such as apple or banana or protein bars.
8. Forgive yourself: By chance you made a mistake and binged on fatty and sugary comfort food, forgive your self and try to correct your next time instead of beating your self up.

Was these tips useful? It has worked for me and I am sure it will work for you as well. Try it.

Mgirl