Emotional Eating - What Kind of Stress Eater Are You?
When you experience a negative event, do you find yourself reaching for a bag of Oreos or a handful of pretzels? Maybe you’re the type of person who reaches for that same bag of cookies when you experience a positive event? If you think all stress eating is the same, think again. Recent studies have found two distinct patterns. See which style describes you and how you can change it.
Scientists have found that stress eaters can be divided into two groups, munchers and skippers. Munchers tend to eat more after a negative experience while skippers eat more after a positive event. Munchers also eat about one-third more calories on average. Which type of eater do you identify with?
Once you’ve identified what type of stress eater you are and become aware of your habits, you can take control of them. Try these strategies for munchers, skippers, or anyone who struggles with emotional eating.
Strategies for Munchers
1. Give yourself a pep talk. Remembering all your blessings and the things that make you smile makes difficult times easier to bear. Thinking about your major accomplishments helps you to recall your strengths even when you’re cringing over a recent mistake.
2. Look on the bright side. Failing at something can be disappointing and it is something we usually experience several times on the road to success. But there is always something to be learned in those times when you fail to get the results you wanted.
3. Laugh more. Some stressful situations may seem funny when you try to find the humor in them. Think about a time when you said or did something out of character in response to a situation that made you feel uncomfortable. While it might have been stressful, look back and find the humor in what you said or did. I can identify some situations. Of course, my eyes rolled, and I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I said that!” But…inevitably I ended up laughing about the whole situation.
4. Develop self-compassion. Validate your feelings. Acknowledge when you are upset or angry. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It means you’re human. I believe one of the worst things we can do is feel guilty about how we’re feeling. Expressing emotions makes us less vulnerable to using food for comfort.
Strategies for Skippers
Put pleasures in perspective. It’s natural to get excited about a dream vacation or achieving a goal. But be sure to also cultivate a deeper sense of peace and contentment through healthy relationships and honest living so you can manage your emotions and thoughts.
Share your joy. The most effective way to use pleasures constructively is to share them with others. Go out to the movies with a loved one or donate to your favorite charity. These types of activities bring joy and don’t result in unhealthy calories.
Plan non-food celebrations. If you usually go out to dinner to celebrate good times, try planning more unusual festivities like a weekend getaway, a massage or check out your favorite comedian at the local venue.
4. Be extra careful during the holidays. The average weight gain of 1 to 2 pounds during the winter months adds up over a lifetime. I think it’s ok to have a small piece of cake so long as you can be disciplined. If you feel that you’ll have a hard time with eating that small portion, focus your attention on singing Christmas carols and making decorations.
Strategies for Any Kind of Emotional Eating
1. Practice relaxation techniques. Melt away stress with meditation or a warm bubble bath. Light some candles and play some relaxing music. Cuddle your furry pet and enjoy the time together.
2. Exercise regularly. Exercise counters emotional eating in several ways. Physical activity burns off calories and temporarily suppresses your appetite. It also elevates your mood so it’s easier to resist cookies. So next time you feel yourself craving sweets, reach for you sneakers, head on outside, and take a 15-minute walk. The fresh air will feel great!
3.Talk things over. When you’re feeling sad, lonely, or overwhelmed, pick up the phone and call a friend rather than putting in an order at the local pizza parlor. Discussing your feelings provides longer lasting relief than marinara sauce and pepperoni smothered with mozzarella cheese.
4. Keep a food journal. If you haven’t considered logging what you eat and when you eat it, I urge you to start now. You can begin to spot your individual triggers by writing down what you eat and how you feel before, during and after you’ve eaten. Maybe you’ll find that your sensitive areas are related to work or your family.
5. Discover smart substitutions. Minimize the impact of emotional eating by finding satisfaction in fewer calories. Replace corn chips with celery sticks splattered with some cream cheese. Try your hand at making fruit popsicles and reach for that instead of whole fat ice cream.
6. Consider counseling. Sometimes we feel that we are failures if we must ask for help. However, the thing we must realize is that the failure is in not asking. Professional therapists have helped many people to gain control over emotional eating. You can ask your physician for a referral or do a search on the web for a reputable therapist.
Whether you’re a muncher or a skipper, it is within your control to choose to develop new and healthier habits. Eat right and manage stress so you can look and feel your best.
