Tips to help overcome emotional eating

For a lot of us, there is certainly more to food than it just being fuel to keep us alive, like enjoyment, health, socialising and dealing with emotions. However, if we often turn to food to help us deal with uncomfortable or negative emotions, often termed ‘comfort eating’ or ‘emotional eating,’ then you might find yourself overeating when you're bored, lonely or upset.

If you’re prone to overindulging ‒ snacking on unhealthy foods, comfort eating, or grazing when you’re not even hungry – it may be time to try and change the way we view food and the attitudes we have around it.

Why do we emotionally eat?

There’s often a tendency to eat to make ourselves feel better if we’re stressed or sad, and use food to satisfy our emotional needs, rather than actual hunger. Some snacking is even done unconsciously or simply out of habit. For example, while standing at the fridge, watching television, or at our work desks.

When we eat, we produce dopamine, the brain chemical responsible for reward and pleasure feelings. We tend to reach for the unhealthier foods when we’re in ‘comfort eating-mode', as these foods tend to be higher in fat and sugar which stimulates dopamine production more than the healthier options.¹

So, these sugary foods are potent rewards that promote eating and trigger learned associations between the stimulus and the reward.²

But how can we start to change our eating habits, so that we’re aware of when we’re actually hungry and when we’re just reaching for a quick fix to help change our mood?

1) Keep a food diary

Keeping a log of your emotions and what you eat every day – (meals, snacks and everything else!) can help you acknowledge what you’re eating, and why – but be honest with yourself and don’t leave anything out.

Writing down everything you eat is a good reality check, as often people genuinely don’t realise they’re eating too much or what emotions are driving them to eat more.

You can review at the end of the week and pick something to improve on for the week ahead.

2) Preparation is key

To make it easier to stay away from unhealthy snacks have healthy alternatives at the ready, already portioned out correctly.

For example, a small tupperware box of Greek yoghurt with mixed berries or having fresh cut carrot sticks and a tablespoon of hummus.

With healthy snacks at the ready you hopefully won’t be seeking out unhealthy alternatives as the element of choice and the time to make it are both removed.

3) Set aside time to deal with stress

Sometimes it helps to externalise your worries and sources of stress by writing them down and allowing yourself 15 minutes a day to deal with them.

We’re more likely to comfort eat when we’re stressed. Some people find a ‘worry diary’ can help to mind-dump their thoughts. Jotting down all your worries, no matter how big or small they seem, can help you take control and declutter a busy mind.

4) Use distraction techniques

If you’re snacking out of habit, do something to distract your brain from food. Try a quick walk round the block, a glass of water, phoning a friend or listening to music.

If you’re worried that you’re constantly thinking about food and when you’ll eat next, it’s difficult to suddenly try to stop thinking about it. Rather than dwelling on the thoughts as a bad thing, perhaps turn it into something positive. Food is important – so use your thoughts to plan a healthy meal and enjoy your food rather than feeling guilty or going without.

5) Savour the taste and flavour

Try focusing on the taste of food, rather than the quantity, to help reduce portion size. If you’re still hungry or want to add more to your plate, add extra veg.

Eating mindfully can be a great way to help you enjoy your food more and take note of the flavours. We often eat in front of the television or at our desks and don’t take note of what and how much we are eating. Take your time, use your senses and enjoy your food.

6) Enjoy a surge of positive emotions when you resist temptation or start seeing results

Make short term goals so you can congratulate yourself and celebrate your successes on a regular basis – building up your self-esteem as you achieve each one.

Have a day of the week where you enjoy a slice of cake or order your favourite takeaway; it’s all about things in moderation rather than cutting out completely. This can help you to turn away unhealthy treats on a daily basis, as we tend to enjoy a treat more when we have it less.

7) Don’t ban any food

If you do, it seems to become more appealing, you obsess about it and it’s not sustainable in the long term. There is no inherently ‘bad’ food, just ‘bad’ diets, so allow yourself those foods you enjoy, enjoy them without regret or feeling like a failure then move on and get back to your good habits.

8) Be patient

Changes like this don’t happen overnight so don’t be hard on yourself if you let your emotions win sometimes, especially if you’re aiming to lose some weight. Consistency really is crucial so don’t get de-motivated if you’re only seeing small changes. Progress is still progress.

It can be useful to make sure you review your goals, set a long-term goal but also set short-term goals to keep yourself motivated and on track.

>Read more in our article on how to lose weight well

9) Think small changes

It’s all the small changes that add up and don’t try and change too much at once. Make one or two changes to start with and go from there. Try eating smaller portions, using a smaller plate or look for calorie-saving swaps.

Some easy swaps to try could be switching chocolate to fruit, having wholegrain instead of white bread or even, some evenings, swapping pasta/rice for extra fresh vegetables. These changes really mount up and can help towards boosting your energy levels and weight loss goals.

It’s worth remembering that everyone and their attitudes towards food is different. The goal is to reach a place in which you can make a decision about whether or not to eat when you are feeling emotional – rather than it just being an automatic response. Occasionally it can be fine to use food in this way but the danger is when food becomes the only way to deal with emotions.³

You can find lots more information on  diet and nutrition, plus healthy recipes to try.

References

1. Healthy ways to manage emotional eating – BBC Food
2. Reward, dopamine and the control of food intake – National Library of Medicine
3. Changing the reason you eat – Diabetes.co.uk