Dealing With Emotional Eating

There are many reasons for obesity. One of the major reasons for increase in obesity among young adults and teenagers is emotional eating. Many people throughout North America are suffering from obesity due to emotional eating. When one starts eating foods in large quantity without any hunger cues but just to overcome the good or bad feelings is called emotional eating.

There are certain common emotions that can make you eat in response. You should be able to recognize and distinguish them as emotional cues and not hunger cues. Such emotions include:

• Depression: When people get depressed or feel helpless then they find solace for themselves by turning to food. They start consuming food in large quantity to refresh them.
• Anger: It is often seen that when people get angry they do not have the guts to confront the situation. They resort to eating to escape from their feelings. There are some who also head on, leaving the confrontations behind.
• Boredom: The boredom in life is the main cause which will make the person eat in large quantities and consume more calories than they do normally. They pass their time eating foods.
• Control: When people lack control in their personal lives, they feel dejected. They fail to handle their situations and hence turn to food for respite. They feel that they get relaxation eating foods. They try to find solace in this manner.
• Excitements: When a person accomplishes a task that is difficult or as per plan, then he/she resorts to food as a mark of celebrating the success.

The emotional triggers are the key factors to emotional eating. You must be in a position to recognize them. You can do this easily by jotting down all that you eat when turn emotional. You will surely be surprised seeing the lengthy list.

Further you can also make a list of things that you can alternatively do when you get emotional like walking, spending time with your friends, roaming in the park/garden etc. These kinds of activities will improve your blood circulation and burn the calories thereby refreshing your mind and soul. Your mind will also have a change of place and refreshing atmosphere to recharge.

It is very important to recognize and differentiate the hunger cues from the emotional ones. The hunger cues arise when the body is really hungry. When you are hungry you have a gnawing feeling in your stomach. This again should not be confused with the salivation that occurs in your mouth when you think of some delicious food stuff. It is a sign of craving.

When you are really hungry, any food will be appetizing for you. To realize the real hunger, you can try a glass of water. If drinking water subsides your feeling, it means you are not really hungry but you are craving for something to eat.

You need not starve for that matter. You will simply have to recognize whether the feeling is hunger or craving. This will help you to prevent over eating and keep you healthy.

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