How to Combat Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is probably one of the more common occurrences there is. Because it’s normal. Food can be a source of joy, comfort and everything in between.

I think that’s the most important thing to normalize:

THAT EMOTIONAL EATING IS OKAY. IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS.

Food is used as part of celebrations – for holidays and special occasions. It’s also comforting. Think: that special pasta recipe your mom makes or a warm bowl of soup of on a cold day.

So, it’s okay for food to be eaten emotionally sometimes. The idea that emotional eating needs to be avoided at all costs is a little too oversimplified.

But, of course, there are times when we do want to avoid emotional eating.

If you’re eating to a point of numbness or to totally distract you from feeling a certain emotion, then yep, this is a time where we’ll want to work on the emotional eating.

Or, if you feel guilty and beat yourself up after you emotionally eat, then this is something we’ll want to work on too.

Lastly, it’s also important to have other tools in your toolbox. If eating is your only coping mechanism when things feel tough, then learning other ways to cope will also be important.

So, emotional eating in general isn’t bad. 

But, I do want you to have other coping tools and to feel like you don’t turn to food every time an intense emotion comes up. 

HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO TO WORK ON EMOTIONAL EATING:

1. Acknowledge it.

It sounds simple, but so often emotional eating is a mindless thing.

Do you know what the most common trigger for emotional is? Boredom.

Think about any time you’re just hanging around, sitting on the couch and maybe grabbing snacks mindlessly.

Or, think about weekends when you have more time on your hands. Weekends see a big increase in emotional eating due to more time and consequently, more boredom.

Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with doing this, but we do want to bring some awareness and mindfulness into the behavior.

So often it can be a totally mindless, unconscious behavior to eat emotionally.

And it doesn’t just happen as a result of boredom either. Emotional eating from other emotions can feel like something on autopilot too.

Consider maybe any time you’ve stood up with mind somewhere else and eaten right out of the pantry.

So first things first, bring some awareness to the behavior and acknowledge when you’re doing it.

Notice any patterns: does it happen at night? On weekends? Do you do it more often when you’re stressed? Or angry?

Acknowledge when you emotional eat so that you can work to come up with other solutions.

2. Ask yourself if eating will help in that moment.

Once you’ve acknowledged the behavior and realized when you actually are eating emotionally, ask yourself if eating will help in that moment.

If you’re bored, will eating help solve your boredom? If you’re stressed, will eating help alleviate your stress?

There’s no right or wrong here! Eating very well might be a solve in that moment.

But, even if it is, it’s often a temporary solve.

For example, we usually choose crunchy foods when eating emotionally out of anger or stress – things like chips or pretzels.

This is because the act of crunching on these can almost serve as a mini release for that anger or stress.

And, while eating might help those emotions in the moment, it’s also not a long term solve. After eating, the underlying anger or stress will still be there.

So it’s important to have other coping mechanisms too (more on this in #3). 

And, even more so, it’s important to recognize if eating won’t solve that particular emotion.

Let’s say you’re sad and are about to grab some food. You think about it and realize that eating won’t make you any less sad in this moment. This is a great time to reflect and to move on to a different activity instead that might actually help you feel better.

All of this awareness helps turn emotional eating from an unconscious bandaid-like behavior into a more mindful way to actually feel better.

3. Have other tools in your toolbox to cope.

Once you’ve acknowledged and learned when you eat emotionally – and once you realize that it either won’t help or is only a temporary solve – the next step is have other tools available.

I find it most helpful to think about these tools ahead of time. You can even write them on a sticky note or put them in the notes app in your phone.

This way, when something does come up and it’s tough to think of a solution in the moment, you have a list at your disposal of other things you can do.

It’s so important to have other coping mechanisms for these emotions – things you can do that will be more of a fix for anything unpleasant you’re feeling.

If you’re bored, maybe you’d find it helpful to go on a walk outside or watch a TV show. If you’re stressed, it might help you make a list or take a bath. If you’re upset, maybe calling a friend or getting lost in a book might help.

You know yourself best: think about small things that help you feel better. They don’t have to be time consuming or hard to do. 

Write these things down so that you have them right at your disposal when you realize you’re about to eat emotionally.

In that moment, it’s easier to turn to other coping mechanisms if you have a list of tools right in your toolbox (or phone).

Again, remember that these steps are just to help you. 

I don’t want you to feel like you turn to food every time unpleasant feelings come up or like you don’t know how to not used food to cope.

While it’s important to have other coping mechanisms, it’s equally as important to remember that sometimes food can be comforting.

When you do use food to comfort, let yourself! Enjoy the food and let it do its thing. Don’t get mad at yourself or feel guilty afterwards.

Enjoy food in whatever way you need to, then try to move on and think of some longer term fixes to the emotion you’re feeling.