Food is my best friend!
You were doing so well, but then something went wrong. Maybe you got angry at your boss or upset with your kids.
Perhaps you felt depressed about your finances or you struggled with a relationship problem.
You knew you weren’t hungry, but you reached for a few chips or cookies to make yourself feel better. You’ve just slipped into emotional eating.
Think about how many times you eat for reasons other than to fuel your body. Sneaking a candy bar in the middle of the afternoon, searching the cupboard when the kids go down for a nap, nibbling a free doughnut at the bank—all of these match the true definition.
Emotional eating: Anytime you reach for food when you aren’t physically hungry or needing nutrition
If you occasionally grab a candy bar on a stressful day, you probably won’t do much damage. But if you aren’t careful, you can slide into using food to “fix” all of your emotional needs.
Eventually, emotional eating will destroy your diet plan as well as ruin your motivation and your self-esteem.
To stop emotional eating, you first have to recognize you’re doing it. Start paying attention to the times you eat when you truly aren’t hungry.
Analyze your habits such as having a bowl of ice cream every night at bedtime or grabbing a few cookies every time you get off the phone with your mother.
Why am I eating?
When you start thinking about food, decide whether you’re having a physical need or an emotional one. Before you put anything in your mouth, ask yourself:
If you decide you actually are hungry, give your body some fuel.But if you’re having a desire to eat, catch yourself on the spot and ask, “What’s going on here? What’s making me want to eat right now?” Then consider how you could take care of your real needs instead of appeasing them with food.
When you always reach for something to eat whenever you don’t like how you feel, you eventually create a link between food and your emotional needs. And it seems to work.But at some point, overeating numbs your feelings and you can stop noticing what’s missing in your life. Food simply provides a legal, socially acceptable way to escape from reality.
So many days, you’d give anything for someone to hold you or to offer kind, encouraging words. You want somebody to care that you have a bad cold or that your car broke down for the third time this month. You wish life was different—that you had more money, more love or more fun. When you don’t get these things, it’s easy to look for something (such as food) to take their place.
Whenever you reach for something to eat but know you aren’t hungry, stop and ask yourself, “What do I really want or need?” Remind yourself that food will only be the consolation prize. Then think about how you can address your needs in some other way instead of expecting food to take care of them.
Today: Read Chapter 1 in Life is Hard, Food is Easy
If you don’t have a copy yet, click here to read an excerpt that includes Chapter 1.
You can write answers for this week’s questions in your notebook or journal, or download the worksheet below for your answers.
Assignment: Think about ways food is your best friend, and answer the following questions.
1. Write down a few situations where it’s clear that food is making you feel better or meeting an emotional need.
2. List your most common emotional eating situations. What gets you in trouble most? Think of the places and situations as well as specific people that influence your eating.
3. How does emotional eating affect you? (discouraged, lowers self-esteem, weight goes up?)
4. What does food do for you? What is the number one benefit you get when you eat in response to an emotional need? (relieves stress, nurture, reward?)
5. Think of a recent time or situation when food was the consolation prize. Identify what you really wanted or needed instead.