I do it and I hate it! Emotional eating is a way I comfort myself. But at the end of the day the situation that caused me to eat junk food has not gone away and I am stuck with the physical discomfort and guilt.
How do I stop this? It is not an issue of self esteem, but rather of handling stress. I am lucky that I live far away from a grocery/convenience store and am not able to raid it at my leisure and when the mood strikes me.
Low Carb eating does help tremendously with the amount of junk food binging I have done in the last ten months, but life is life and stressful situations come up and at the end of the day when I am left alone I am still able to empty my cupboards.
What is the cause of this? I know in my head that what I am doing is emotional eating. I know that I will feel horrible and I do it anyways.
I am the only one in my family that eats Low Carb. I do all the groceries. But there are foods that my husband would not go without so I buy them. I don’t buy crackers for the kids anymore – they are my favourite junk food and I could eat a whole box in one sitting. There is a minimal amount of junk food in my house.
When I do have an emotional eating episode I try to eat foods with lots of fat. With pretzels I would dip them in butter, crackers I would dip in butter, I will eat white bread with lots of butter and cheese. (I think I see a pattern here… white flour and butter???) This in no way is great food combination if you are Somersizing but at least I don’t end up eating the whole night and I get full very quickly.
Emotional eating occurs in me when I have feelings like “I just don’t care, I am going to do it anyways” even though it hurts me. It is not related to boredom. I used to eat like that when I was a teenager and early twenties before I had kids. Now I just don’t have time to get bored.
I eat when I feel like crap! Eating junk food is immediate gratification for that. I savour every moment of it. This normally happens in the evening and I go to bed feeling yucky but I feel better in the morning.
Is there a cure for feeling crappy? I don’t think so. But there are things I can do to make the situation better. Unstoppable Fat Loss is great for some instant motivation and can get me put me on track when I have lost my way.
There is no easy way to stay strong. It has to be constantly refreshed in our minds. There are folks that meditate daily, do yoga, practice affirmations and visualizations. These are done on a regular basis to stay on track.
It has to be worked on and does not magically happen.
There are no easy answers for emotional eating.
