Emotional Eating

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 by Dea.

Hi, I’m Dea, and I am an emotional eater.  It’s one of those things that a lot of people do.  Bad day at work?  Stop and get a cheeseburger and a chocolate bar.  Fight with the spouse?  Raid the pantry.

I have come up with a few things I do to trick myself when I get the urge to eat out of emotional upset.  I’ll share a few, and I’d love to hear everyone else’s ideas!

One thing I do is clean the bathroom or the kitchen.  Bleach is an amazing appetite suppressant.  So is cleaning a toilet, really.  This is one I use more when angry than sad.  I turn the energy that anger brings into a positive force.

Another thing I do is yoga or strength training.  This is one that helps more when I’m sad.  Yoga is calming and it helps you refocus your mind and visualize positive things.  The endorphins released during exercise are an added bonus here.

I like to use spin class and taking a walk, as well.  All three of these things are more mundane.  I do have sillier things I do to try to break the emotional eating cycle.

I like to paint my fingernails when I have a really bad urge to eat.  Nail polish smells so bad, and takes so long to dry, that it can help head off a binge.  Another strange thing I do sometimes is put on music really loud and scream along with the song.  Music is an amazing therapist. There’s a song for every emotion.

Anyone else have tricks to use when the emotional eating urge hits?

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