How often have you found yourself at the bottom of a bag of Doritos or a jar of Cookie Butter, at the end of hectic day?
Comfort eating is an automatic behavior for a lot of us.
Studies show that eating when we are feeling emotional, “feel good” chemicals release in the brain. As human beings, we are wired to avoid any form of pain (whether it be physical or emotional) and to seek pleasure.
This pleasure can be in the form of many things: shopping, alcohol, drugs, sex, Facebook, Instagram Reels, TikTok.
For many of us, the easiest way to soothe ourselves is through food because it is so readily accessible.
Its always there, its reliable, its supportive (so we think to ourselves)When working with clients, I look at the kinds of situations that trigger them to overeat and we look at alternatives to eating.
Of course, sometimes the only thing we want to do is eat and that’s perfectly okay – just do it mindfully.
Emotional eating does not need to be emotional OVER-eating.
Here is a list created of things that you can do instead of eat. So if you choose not to eat when you are feeling bad, here is a list to choose from!
- Call a friend who will listen
- Play with your dog or pet
- Find a soothing object – soft jersey, blanket
- Vent in a journal or vent to the chair
- Do a Mindfulness body scan (don’t know what that is, reach out to me and I will walk you through it)
- Do a meditation
- Breathe …. take 5 deep breaths in, hold for 5 and breathe out slowly for 10 (or do HABT breathing-reach out to me for details on that)
- Go for a walk
- Go into the garden
- Create a playlist or listen to music
- Do a puzzle
- Play cards or solitaire
- Create a vision board
- Connect virtually with others in support groups
- Play with worry beads
- Plan a holiday
- Plan a party
- Do some gardening or plant a herb garden
- Watch some TED talks
- Do a free online course. Coursera has some great and fun courses to chose from.
- Do embroidery , suddoko, a crossword, knit, sew
- Doodle
- Paint or sketch
- Squeeze bubble wrap – one of my favorites!
- Soak in the bath with Epsom salts and candles – cheesy, I know, but it works!
- Do 3 yoga poses
- Make yourself a cup of herbal tea
- Make a gratitude list or write a list of what is NOT wrong
- Check out Pinterest
- Clean out cupboards, drawers
- Netflix
- Dance like nobody’s watching
- Scrapbook
- Organize your old photos or create a photo album
- Read a magazine
- Breathe again
- Rearrange a room
- Organize your books
- Write a handwritten letter
- Bake or cook something and give it to the homeless
- Next time you are at a toy shop buy bubbles and blow bubbles – another favorite of mine!
- Google an interesting topic
- Go into nature
- Get a mindfulness coloring-in book or one of those adult ones (those are fun)
- Visit a nursery
- Go to the movies
- Change into comfy, soft clothes and curl under a blanket
- Listen to a podcast or the radio
- Switch off all the lights and light candles
- Go look at the stars or the clouds
- Think of past happy moments
- Plan a career change
If none of these activities appeal to you and you choose not to eat, then the solution is to actually feel the emotion.
The reason we eat emotionally is to escape and distract ourselves from the difficult emotion.
Emotional eating is a symptom of avoidance to something you may not want to have a face to face heart to heart talk about.
Wouldn’t you rather have a heart to heart, face that fear, acknowledge whats really going on, instead of bullying yourself, suffering those nasty messages from your inner critic and or continuing on the roller coaster of stress & anxiety.
It’s time to deal.
You got this. You are strong, you are worthy, you are enough.
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