Learning about and Dealing with Emotional Eating

<h1>Learning about and Dealing with Emotional Eating</h1>

by Bill Healey

<div align=justify>One of the worst things we can do to ourselves and our diet is to binge eat. When we binge eat, we find ourselves shoving anything and everything into our mouths as a way of compensating for something missing in our lives. One of the leading causes of binge eating is emotional eating. Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food, usually called comfort foods, in response to feelings instead of hunger. For some people, it is triggered by a major event in our lives such getting fired or a divorce; for many others, it's a constant struggle fighting off triggers. Simple things like the stress of rush hour traffic or a seemingly tense altercation with a coworker can set off a binge of emotional eating. The daily grind of life can lead to a seemingly permanent habit of turning to food to make it all better. In order to overcome this, you need to identify what your personal emotional triggers are and what you need to do to deal with them. If it is avoidance, then find other ways to go about your daily routine and stay away from the stress. Some of the common emotional eating cues are: 
<UL> 
<LI>Anger – We often repress our feelings using food instead of confronting them and releasing that anger if we’re angry at ourselves, someone else or a particular situation that we don’t like. It's easier to smother a problem with chocolate than it is to simply deal with it. 
<LI>Feeling Unappreciated – Let’s say you've accomplished something at work that was pretty extraordinary but unbelievably no one ever noticed. Another example would be that you accomplished a personal achievement you'd dreamed of doing for years and no one in your life shares your excitement. At times like this, we are forced to congratulate ourselves with an eating binge. 
<LI>Hopelessness – Often times we eat because we have feelings that nothing really matters anyway. Nothing is ever going to get better for me so, who cares about my weight or how healthy I am. When we are depressed, eating that piece of chocolate cake makes us feel better than if we did not. If you find that you do suffer from these feelings extensively, talk to a mental health professional as this is a sign of chronic depression. No amount of food will ever help you feel better. 
<LI>Boredom – We’ve all been there. We have nothing to do and nowhere to go. We have nothing to occupy our mind or our time. The saying goes idle hands are the devil’s hands but in this case it’s idle mouths and there is nothing around to occupy it but that box of doughnuts on the kitchen table or that ice cream in our freezer. 
<LI>Lack of Control – We are often forced into situations where it seems that we have no control over anything going on. Everyone else has a say about how we live our life and everything around us rules it. However, we do control how much and what we eat. We can eat whatever and more importantly whenever we want. </LI></UL></div>

Article source: <a href="http://www.ArticlePros.com/Health-and-Fitness/weight_loss/article-87227.html">ArticlePros.com</a>
 
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