The Easy Way to Prevent Emotional Eating

It’s not exactly newsworthy that when you’re down in the dumps, you crave comfort food. But new research might provide insight into how you can fight the urge to eat something fatty and/or sugary: Thinking about the future could help you make healthier eating choices, even when you’re on the brink of emotional eating, according to a forthcoming article by University of Delaware associate professor Meryl Gardner, Ph.D.

Researchers did a series of four studies that looked at how people’s emotions affect their food choices. In the first study, researchers found people rated healthy foods as being more favorable than indulgent foods when they were in a good mood (as opposed to a neutral one). In a second study, researchers found that the converse of this is also true: People are more likely to prefer indulgent foods when they’re in a bad mood. In the final two studies, researchers found that asking participants to focus on the future resulted in their choosing the healthier food option (e.g., raisins), while thinking about the present caused participants to pick the less-healthy choice (e.g., M&Ms). This held true regardless of what mood participants were in when the study was conducted.

Why? When you’re thinking more long-term, you’re more likely to consider the future health benefits of what you’re eating, say researchers. When you’re thinking in the now, on the other hand, it’s easier to get caught up in how tasty your food is—and forget about how it might impact your health and wellbeing.

So just remember—the next time you want to bury the day’s stresses in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, think about the future before you dig in. It might help you stick with some Greek yogurt and fruit instead.

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