emotional eating

[naynay]

How do you overcome emotional eating? Whenever I get upset about something I go and I eat anything and everything it seems. Then afterwards I feel disgusting. I am really sick of eating like this and I know it is really bad for me so I want to stop. I know that if I could all of the bad food out of the house it would help me stop eating that stuff, but it is hard for me because the rest of my family isn't trying to eat healthy. They always want cookies and ice cream in the house. I can have one scoop of ice cream and not eat anymore, or just say no and not eat it which is what I do most of the time unless I have had a good week. But when I get upset I will eat like all of it. are there any suggestions on how to stop this

 

[hokypoky]

For me, I had to really dig deep and deal with ALL of the emotions. If I didn't deal with a really big emotional issue, not only would that make me eat, but several other emotions would trigger eating, too. For example, if my husband came home and said, "We're having THAT?!!" I would simply smile, serve dinner, and then end up eating a ton of food later. It really didn't matter what food was in the house either.

I noticed that every time DH and I "had it out" I always felt less inclined to eat afterwards.

I was pasting that smile on my face all the time, to my husband, my parents, my sister .... biting my tongue for the most part. It all came to a head one Thanksgiving, when there was an issue brewing beneath the surface, and my mother wanted us to all go out to dinner like the perfect family. A little voice told me that I needed to deal with this head on, and I did. She tried and tried to gloss over it (so we could meet our relatives for dinner!) but I wouldn't let it go until *I* was ready. Later that week, I picked up the phone and had my say to my dad (which made me feel like I was about 12 yrs old).

I was seeing a counselor for binge eating then - she really helped me work through this. To this day, I listen to that little voice that says, "Don't let it go, talk it through." It was so hard at first, but now I'd much rather have my say than go back to that feeling of no control. And now, it's not really an explosive thing .... it only gets that way when things are all bottled up inside.

HTH...

 

[RapidBreath]

Try IOWL podcast, its free, the most important casts are the first 18. The rest is gravy. Its called Inside Out Weight Loss with Renee Stephens. Also, you might check out The Reasonable Diet with Sandra Ahten, another free podcast. Both are available on iTunes and deal with the subjects of emotional eating. I used to do this a lot more than I do now. It started when I was 19, I had two stalkers within a week of each other and I was in a size 12. I looked myself in the mirror and said, "This has got to stop." The following day I ate two bagels instead of one with the intent of gaining weight and putting a stop to the unwanted advances. It worked. I have over the past 13 years worked on undoing that response and use of food and subsequent abuse of my body. Its not easy to stop using food but over time it can be done. Now I use the open road and wear baggy clothes That said, I'm not perfect and I still have about 50 pounds to go.

 

[Stacy]

The book Intuitive Eating helped me significantly with my food issues.

 

[BuffyR]

The book Intuitive Eating helped me significantly with my food issues.

I'm reading Intuitive Eating right now and it is eye-opening. I'm not an emotional eater but a chronic dieter and I'm looking to get out of that cycle. They do discuss emotional eating as well. Well worth the read.

 

[phoenix130]

Intuitive Eating has really made a HUGE difference for me. I read it late last year (October-November) and it took a few months to adapt and get used to it and work through the process. I'm not eating intuitively, losing weight and just feeling so much better overall. No more dieting and no more obsessing. I still have emotional eating from time to time (I think I always will) but it is very minor and not an issue at all anymore compared to what it was.

 

[spyrosmom]

Ah, if I had the answer to this one, I'd be a millionaire several times over!

I have the same issues. I will 2nd (or is it 3rd?) the reading of Intuitive Eating. It makes perfect sense. The hard part is putting it into action.

I've learned to tell myself to stop (sometimes with the spoon halfway in the PB) and think about why I am eating. Sometime I actually say "stop" out loud. Yeah, I make look silly, but oh well.

I can now recognize when I'm eating emotionally and say "stop!" put the food down, and walk away or grab a glass of water. It doesn't work everytime, but about 85% of the time. Which is good, bc I started w/ no control.

You know better, I know better, and we can both stop it. Sometimes I will even say "husband, take this (insert food here) out of my hand" and he will. I've also thrown perfectly good food away. Not a great solution, but it's happened a couple few times. It was the only way I was going to get past it. It's worse when I'm home alone, b/c then no one knows. At least not until they realize all the ice cream is gone.

I think if you can recognize the problem, you're halfway there. I don't have the perfect answer for you b/c I'm in the same boat, but I really truly do understand and wish you the best.

Nan