Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is defined as “eating for reasons other than hunger”.  Some people aren’t affected by emotional eating while others struggle with it every minute of their lives.  It can also be referred to as eating to fill a void that isn’t related to an empty stomach.  This is a large topic so today I’ll just list a few reasons why we might still be eating when we’re not hungry.

Emotional Reasons

1) Don’t feel worthy  of happiness
2) Boredom
3) Feel we deserve it
4) Holding onto something (as well, weight in turn)

Some of these reasons may resonate with you.  It’s common to avoid this issue though, especially with ourselves.  Take your time with this because it’s a very deep rooted issue.  It’s usually far beyond the actual food itself.  The next time you feel yourself eating when you’re not hungry, stop and take a few deep breaths.  Ask yourself if you’re craving something else in life.  The more that we stop to pay attention to our thoughts, the more that we will connect with ourselves.  We’ll start to find answers rather than just hiding behind our destructive eating habits.

There also may be other reasons that you’re not happy with your eating habits.  See if any of the reasons below apply to you.

Physical Reasons

1) Not enough time (to prepare healthy food)
2) Too expensive (healthy food)
3) Unhealthy foods taste good
4) Addiction
5) Not creative in the kitchen

We’ll continue to discuss this topic for the next few days.  Breaking it down into smaller pieces helps us to figure out why negative food habits may be controlling us for so long.