What Do Your Eating Habits Say About You?

Posted on November 03, 2013 by LaKia Allen, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Some of you maybe be familiar with the term ‘emotional eating’? But for clarity, emotional eating simply put is eating when you are not hungry. In other words, eating that is not triggered by hunger but by an emotion. Emotional eating is a coping mechanism that many use to overcome pressures at home, to relieve boredom, depression, loneliness, fear, and emotional trauma. Most times when we are overeating or even not eating enough it is because we are trying to avoid our true feelings. With that said, some of us find that we overeat because we are actually happy. So how might your emotions play a role in your eating habits?
Some experts have gone on record to claim that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions, so dealing with emotions appropriately is important.
Here are some questions that you may want to consider:

Do you eat to comfort yourself in stressful situations?
Do you eat when you’re not hungry or when you’re full?
Do you eat to feel better?
Do you eat due to something (or someone) missing in your life?
Do you regularly eat until you’ve stuffed yourself?
Do you eat to reward yourself?

Overcoming emotional eating starts with being emotionally aware. If you answered yes to any one of the questions this may be a good opportunity to get in touch with your true emotions and feelings. Thoughts create feelings and feelings create actions. If you are comfortable with the fact that you cannot control the thoughts that show up in your head but you can control how you act upon them this presents a great starting point for you.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Boredom, stress, loneliness, emotional issues (including depression) and filling a void are the five most common reasons for emotional eating. As human beings, companionship, feelings of being appreciated, financial security, feeling safe, feeling sense of contribution to society, and being able to express and receive love are the things that we all seek. When one of these components aren’t satisfied we feel like something is missing. Therefore food becomes a way to satisfy emotional hunger. If you feel like you use food to fill a void in your life take time to identify what’s missing in your life.

There are immediate strategies that you can use when you are ready to overcome the challenges of emotional eating. You can start by rating your hunger. With 1 being ravenous and 5 being full, decide were you are on that scale. If you are a four or a five try to avoid eating. You can also find some alternatives to eating. Make a list of activities that are appealing; creating ways to channel your stress level. Another strategy is to start journaling the toughest timeframes. By doing this you are able to identify your personal patterns. When you are able to identify and pinpoint your patterns that allows you to get in touch with your emotions in that moment.

According to an article published in the July 2000 American Demographics, “The types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips.”

So the next time you are making that run for that bag of chips, ice cream, cake and/or cookies take a moment to decide what’s really go with you?

The secret to permanent weight loss that remains a mystery to most is eliminating emotional eating. The elimination of emotional eating is the key to weight loss success and also improved health, wellness, and fulfillment in your life. The process will take time, patience, and perserverance but is so rewarding and worth your time and health.