Use This Technique to Control Emotional Eating

Published:  12/11/2013

Stop - Challenge - Choose

Emotions and situations can trigger the desire to overeat and cause us to eat more calories than we need or even want without being aware of it. This leads to feelings of guilt and despair.

Emotions and situations that can trigger us to eat can be any of the following. Eating when around other people, eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, depression, anger, anxiety, or loneliness; eating because the opportunity is there; eating because of feelings of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating; or eating in response to physical cues such as increased hunger because of missing a meal or eating to treat headaches.

To identify what triggers excessive eating in you, keep a journal that records what and when you eat as well as what stressors, thoughts, or emotions you recognize as you eat.

Also, take a look at this article about how to beat emotional eating with these 7 steps.

Here is a technique that you can use to take control by making a conscious choice. Choose to handle feelings and situations in a healthier manner.

STOP - CHALLENGE - CHOOSE is a method that can break the association between situations, emotions, and undesirable eating behavior.

Here's how it can work:

STOP: Take a deep breath. Stop action.
CHALLENGE: Ask, Why am I feeling like this? What result do I want?
CHOOSE: Make a healthy choice for optimal outcome and be aware of an alternative behavior