As anyone who’s watching their weight will tell you, hunger is just one of many reasons that people eat. Those with a tendency toward emotional eating are especially vulnerable to making poor diet choices. If you’re an emotional eater, you may find yourself eating to deal with uncomfortable emotions, using food as a reward when you’re happy, and craving sweets or unhealthy snacks when stressed.

(Don’t worry; you’re not alone!) The following ideas can help you to cut down emotional eating and develop healthier eating habits—even when stressed!

First: Awareness is Key

I’m mentioning this first because awareness can be the most powerful aspect of change here, even though the other strategies listed are highly effective as well. Reading this article is a great first step in awareness; you clearly know that this is an issue to explore, and you’re educating yourself. Now, becoming more aware of how the problem plays out personally for you is the next step. Emotional eating is sometimes called “mindless eating” because we often don’t think about what we’re doing, and let our unconscious habits or drives take over. (Mindful eating – more on this later – can be helpful here, and involves awareness as you eat.) But before you can put mindful eating into practice, being aware of how you feel right before you eat is vital.

The trick is to be more aware of why you’re eating when you eat. One way to check-in with yourself is to maintain a food journal, either in physical journal form or as an app you can install on your phone. If you have to log what you eat right before you eat it, you may realize you’re eating for the wrong reasons, and can then move onto another approach to deal with your feelings.



Read more at: http://www.virtuedigest.com/how-to-stop-emotional-eating-from-stress/