What Is Emotional Eating?

The purpose of this blog is not only to make me accountable for my actions by posting them for the world to see, but also help those like me who are trying to lose weight, but are often completely clueless...

I would like to start by recommending that you read The Dorm Room Diet by Daphne Oz. Even if you are still in high school, or you're a real grown up with kids, a house, and responsibilities. It has so much helpful information on just eating healthy. And yes, it is aimed at women (mainly) that are in college, because we struggle the most to stay healthy seeings that there is unhealthy food staring us down everywhere we turn.

But again, it really gave me insight as to what I should be eating, how much of it I should eat, when I should eat it, and everything in between.
(You can get this book at a fairly low price on amazon.com)

Moving on. The reason for this post is because I had a slip-up yesterday. Not even a slip-up, it was a full on cannon ball into the deep end. I'll start with the positives though.

All week, I have had amazing, kick-ass, sweat-a-river workouts, and I have been eating very well. Salads, fruits, and vegetables galore. I weighed in yesterday--another pound gone from the seven I had packed on during finals week last year.
*sidebar--just as a reminder-- Last year, around the end of November, I was under 200 pounds for the first time in a very long time. Then December came along, bringing finals with it, and I failed to workout, I was pulling all nighters where I would eat pizza at 2 a.m., I was stress eating, and I was 7 pounds heavier by the time I went home for break. I've been trying to lose those seven pounds ever since.* I drank 128 oz of water yesterday, and things were going great. I felt great. I didn't hate myself when I looked in the mirror. Peachy.

Then I got out of class, and started fussing over all the work I had to get done before I went to my job that night. I sat down with the millions of pages I was assigned to read, and got started. I was stressed, and decided to have a snack because I was genuinely hungry. I had two rice cakes with a little peanut butter topped with blueberries. Had I stopped there, things would have been perfect. Instead, I gobbled down a 100-calorie pack of chocolate covered pretzels, some Triscuits with hummus, a piece of dark chocolate dipped in peanut butter, a 100-calorie pack of chocolate chip crisps, and by this point, I wasn't even hungry.

According to the Dorm Room Diet, emotional eating is eating for any other reason than fueling your body: sadness, boredom, stress, etc. Food is meant to be used to get energy, and that's all. I know that after reading that book, and yet I was overcome by it.It came on so fast, and there wasn't even hunger in my stomach, it was in my head. Craving after craving. It's not like I was consuming cheese burger after cheese burger; those snacks were fairly healthy. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. I went to get a sandwich from the food court, and instead of getting a water, LIKE I ALWAYS DO, I got cheddar ruffles. I wolfed down the sandwich and the chips like I had been starving my whole life. Again, I was not even remotely hungry at this  point. This was right before work, and I had to stop by Walgreens to pick up some pictures, and of course I grabbed a peanut butter Twix and gulped that down too.

 By the time I arrived at work I was over-the-top full with a ton of food and self-loathing. Why was I doing this to myself? I had done so well over the course of the week. Why did I keep stuffing myself when I wasn't even hungry? I'm an emotional eater, and that stops now.

Here are some ways to spot emotional eating, and kick it to the curb before it consumes you:

1. Emotional eating comes on suddenly, so if you feel yourself get hungry quickly, drink a lot of water. If you're still hungry, count to your age (this I learned from the Dorm Room Diet) to give yourself a minute to think about it. If you still feel the urge to eat after that, you may be genuinely hungry. 

2. Don't eat while you're watching tv, doing homework, etc., because that allows you to eat mindlessly and not recognize when you're full. Even if it's just a snack, sit down with no distractions to eat. 

3. Identify how you're feeling at that certain point. If you recognize that you're angry, stressed, bored, upset, or whatever, you can face the fact that you would only be eating for emotional reasons. 

I wish I would have taken my own advice, but I have dealt with the fact that I let food control me yesterday. It's out in the open and now I can move on.

Don't let food control your life. Food is only meant to be used as fuel for the body.