Weight Loss: The Emotional Eating Trap

Nothing sabotages your weight loss efforts more than emotional eating. For many years food has been my drug of choice. I still struggle with it at times. I know I am not the only one to have longings for double Dutch chocolate ice cream when I feel down in the dumps. As good as a bowl of ice cream is to soothe the sadness, anxiety, anger or loneliness, it’s not a cure. It is easy to get into a trap that is difficult to get out of. Not only do you gain weight with emotional eating, but you are setting yourself up for future health issues related to obesity. High density foods that are smothered in fat are not good for our blood vessels. It’s so easy to fall back into old habits. We, who have weight issues, need to hold ourselves accountable for our own lives, and our own health. Many of us fall into the trap of emotional eating due to events in our lives.

Coping with divorce is one of the most common triggers for emotional eating. Emotional eating is a learned behavior. I’ve been down the road of emotional eating as far back as I can remember. Having been raised in the midst of emotional abuse, I learned at a young age that food could soothe the hurts for a time. Pizza and ice cream and chocolate were some of the most common “make up” foods when I was growing up. Dad would be in a good mood and he’d make some great treats, and those treats were the unspoken apology. Food was love in our house. Food is “love” in a lot of people’s lives.

The purpose of this factoid is to encourage people who are struggling with emotional eating. Try not to feel guilty over your emotional rating. Feeling guilty will only feed the cycle of emotional eating. Don’t deny yourself the foods you love. Denying yourself will only cause you to “fall off the wagon” time and time again, and we know this will feed the guilt.

When you want to eat, evaluate if you are hungry or if you just want to eat. Your hunger may be related to an emotional issue you are dealing with. I have a few friends who have dealt with emotional pain. We are able to talk to each other, and we also journal. Talking and writing about what is eating you, will help to stop those cravings to eat.

I have found that creating good habits is beneficial to curbing the triggers to emotional eating. One of my habits is to eat at the same place every meal. Another thing is to stop the mindless eating. I could eat a whole pound bag of M & M Peanuts, and not even think about it. I still struggle with emotional eating from time to time. The worst thing we emotional eating strugglers can do is to throw in the towel. We have to keep focused, and we need to be supportive of those we know who are struggling with the same things. At Weight Watcher’s we share our struggles. We share new ways of making our favorite dishes. For me, having a support system in place makes it easier to eat healthy and not to succumb to emotional eating.