It can be tempting to feed your feelings. Instead, try these strategies to disrupt your emotional eating habits.

Our relationships with food can be deep-seated and complex. When you feel low, do you reach for a friendly pint of ice cream? But even if you are very physically hungry, you usually can wait for food.

In contrast, emotional hunger can come on suddenly, like lightning. It demands food immediately and may not stop even when a person is stuffed.

Because it can be part of you without you realizing it, emotional eating may be difficult to let go of. First, take some time to understand where and how your emotional eating habits started.

These insights can help you recognize the feelings that trigger it. Consider leaning on a trusted friend or family member, or to reach out to a mental health provider. They can help you see how your eating habits connect with your mental and physical well-being.

When you set goals for a healthy lifestyle, try to take a wider view. Do you also want to like yourself better, be more comfortable with yourself, feel pride and a sense of achievement? Take a moment to get clear on your goals other than weight loss and think about the steps you can take to achieve them.

Eating is an immersive sensory experience. This can keep your mind busy instead of relying on food to manage your emotions. Here are some swaps to consider:. If you fall back into emotional eating on occasion, take time to understand why you slipped, without judging yourself.

Was it due to feelings of stress or sadness? What could you do different next time? Our programme offers many other tools and tricks to overcome emotional eating.

Lesley Beaton. Our programme will provide plenty of other tools for mindfulness and overcoming emotional eating. io 🙂. Loraine White.

Janet Porter. I was interested in the rule, I would have always been a fast eater so I am going to slow down and enjoy my food! Our programme will offer many other tools to improve mindfulness.

Interesting article with solid advice. Our programme will help you continue to develop a toolbox to identify triggers and overcome emotional eating. I have read through this article and found it helpful especially the mindfulness part of it as I find it hard to focus sometimes due to my mental health conditions so thank you for the information I will come back to it whenever I feel any doubtful thoughts 😊.

Louise Ruming. This is a very good detailed article. In particular I liked the 20 20 20 framework which I have not seen before. Thank you. Interesting to learn what emotional and mindful eating is! Slow down and smell the coffee I guess Carmel.

Pauline mills. Hi Pauline, please email support secondnature. io to request our free 5-day plan 🙂. Kirsty Wilson. Very informative.

Gives a good perspective on this and I resonated well with it all. I hope this makes me make better choices and not feel guilty. It makes sense.

Alison Cooper. Thank you for this as it has been interesting reading. To slow down when coming to a meal in general and trying to enjoy my food.

I do suffer with emotional eating and especially when having a tough day or things have gone wrong its easy to pick up the takeaway menu or go to the biscuit tin.

I am trying to learn to grab a piece of fruit instead. One is the rule and the other one is the cognitive challenges. Rachel Hillhouse. This is a very helpful article. After reading this, I now realize that I have the ability to resist with the help of these strategies.

Hi Rachel, so pleased to hear this article was helpful! Heather Fangrow. This article really rang true for me and it was very helpful, I have struggled with emotional eating over my life, but I am already inspired to try some of the techniques suggested.

Our programme will provide you with a toolbox for identifying triggers and helping you to overcome emotional eating habits. Fore more information on our programme, please click here.

Ana Amores. Interesting article. Preparing in advance for situations when I will feel cravings and have a plan of action to replace unnecessary eating with some other activity. I can try it.

Our programme will offer even more helpful tools for overcoming emotional eating. For more information, please click here 🙂.

Karen Gregory. heather norris. This article I know will help me. Angela Mckay. Barbara Howell. Very interesting article I have periods of binge eating and then feel really disappointed in my self and lack of control.

Brenda Gascoigne. Especially being prepared. Going to take some time to think about this. And the 29,20, Sally Broad. penny starr. Thanks, I particularly liked point 2 Be prepared. Thinking about how I might feel in the future if I fail. For me this is the most thought provoking part of this article.

Jackie davis. Thanks for this article. Some helpful tips. Definitely makes a difference. I do find that by eating slowly I am in tune with when I am full. Carrot sticks are working for me as well for snacking. I have yet to find the best distraction strategy because this does work for mewhen i do become distracted from the craving, which usualy hits me late in the evening.

Tracey Austin. Louise Wood. I keep repeating the same bad habits then feel guilty. Very interesting to read and it certainly covered the reasons why I seem to be emotionally eating. Very insightful and I hope the impact stays with me. Good article highlighting all the SN insights around emotional eating.

Also maybe I will suggest taking a picnic and going for a walk now we have good weather. I eat! Mary Moran. I liked the article a lot and what is very meaningful for me is developing the habit of mindful eating.

I have been practicing this and then unfortunately I notice how many people swallow or gobble or stuff their food and it kind of puts me off. Having a glass of wine ends up in eating anything sweet I can get my hands on. I need to practice mindful eating.

I have been crisis eating since I was 8. I only pressed stressed, but I eat when I am tired. Disappointed in procrastinating.

Scared, over committed, so many reasons. Covid has made no difference to this. Fiona Wilson. My weight has ballooned over the past year with covid lockdown too! Deirdre Moffat. I am starting the programme on Monday 7th June.

I found that article extremely helpful. I have been emotionally eating for the past 18 months, since I began working from home hence huge weight gain. I think being prepared and having a daily menu that includes snacks might help me. Patricia Hallahan.

Hi Michelle, so pleased to hear this! Our programme will take a deeper look into emotional eating, our triggers, and how to build healthier habits. To learn more, please click here. Hi Michelle, so pleased to hear! Our programme offers further support and insight into managing emotional eating.

To learn more, you can take our health quiz here. Or please feel free to email support secondnature. I have a stressful job and I do sometimes turn to a glass of wine or a bar of chocolate for comfort. Michelle Jervis. Val Elliott. Very helpful, tend to watch TV while eating evening meal now going to eat at the table, like we used to.

Also as my husband has early stage mixed dementia learning to step back somewhat and not use food as a prop to cope. Use my hobbies as an alternative to food. Linda Leah. Bringing Mindfulness into awareness when eating is a useful strategy and can potentially change our eating habits.

Alison Kane. Great article to read thanks. I am coping pretty well with the emotional eating now. I work in a busy Emergency Dept and see some pretty sad things especially with children, so I am mindful to care but let emotions go now. Thanks so much for your caring. I found this really interesting and helpful.

I think it will also be useful to have strategies in place beforehand to know what to do if I am tempted to do any snacking when watching tv in the evening. Interesting reading and certainly a lot of good advice to put into practice.

My husband does all the cooking since he retired but I am taking back control and enjoying it. Concentrating on the food I prepare for myself.

This is enlightening. It is extremely interesting that some activities are more effective at redirecting my inclination to eat to deal with or suppress emotions. GERARDO SILANO. Excellent read. I found the read liberating.

Alison Grayston. Excellent article. One square at a time! It keeps my hands occupied and fabric and food do not mix so it works quite well and sewing is quite a calming activity so it helps me de-stress.

The added benefit is that I should have a quilt to show for it eventually! Christine Henderson. Barbara Harrington. I can relate to not remembering earring the food, I shall focus on eating and think about it and eat more slowly. Thankyou this was very interesting and useful. Some points i hadnt considered before eg how will eating make me feel less stressed 🤔.

Rhian Nowell-Phillips. Great stuff and plenty to ponder on. I need a little more will-power I think. Bill Collins. I will try and not feel guilty if I have over eaten.

When I have made a slip I am so riddled with guilt I give up all together and continue to over eat. Very useful. The end part about still being able to enjoy something you love and not beat yourself up, wait till you truly need it, enjoy it, then get back on track.

Very useful information. Going to make a huge effort to be much more mindful when eating. Susan Eaglestone. Liked The notion of preparing yourself for vulnerable times and having a plan thought out to manage it interesting.

Will certainly work on this 👍. Pauline Jones. Definitely emotional eating binges, why when I have reached target weight twice did I go back to the beginning? Regards, Pauline. Mebo Ndoro. Thanks for good information i used to eat anytime would able to limit myself i was even getting up midnight and eat a heavy meal.

Teresa Ougan. Being mindful whilst eating has been very successful. Alexis Chase. Sheree Oxenham. An excellent article so well explained and has touched on so many things that I can relate to offering reasons empathy and possible solutions.

Ruth Brookhouse. Lynne Perry. Totally agree with the sitting down and taking time to eat thoughtfully. I find i over eat when rushing around its as if your brain does not register that you have eaten enough. I will certainly be using this technique.

I will try sitting at table to eat rather than eating in front of the tv. Then I will have my mind fully on my meal rather than being distracted and eating more than I need. Maureen Davis. I started learning French and it got harder so I tried German , Spanish and gealic.

I understood some of the German comments on the news. Very interesting concept that I never used. Very good for an emotional eater like me. Good strategies there. Lesley Yeldham. My jeans are starting to feel loose. Sadie Andrews.

Susie Howey. Some interesting strategies to avoid emotional eating or eating out of boredom. Any other guide-lines or information would be useful. Muhammad Khalid Khan. Siobhan Burke. Amy Groome. Hi Siobhan, Second Nature is a week digital programme that helps you build healthier lifestyle habits around the way you eat, move, and think.

You can find out more about how our programme can help you by taking our health quiz here. Patricia Flannery. Christine Kenny. Rebecca Crews. Anna Proctor. I did this in my 30,s so need to start again.

Joanne Bate. I am aware that I am an emotional eater and so the idea of planning in advance how to deal with potential incidents makes sense. I also eat far too quickly and so I will try the approach. A very good read. Julie Fisk. I know I have to prioritise me now, and what I want to achieve.

Get into habit of planning meals properly. Nadia Mazzone. It all makes sense its just putting it to practice. But as l said its putting it to practice and this will take time. Stephen Henderson. but know I shall look at my meals in a different light and ask myself the Q.

Patricia Woodward. Jane Rodley. This was really useful especially knowing it is ok to enjoy the occasional treat and not beat myself up. Theresa McGuinness. Tatiza Costa Turner. I took a mindfully class long time ago. Denise Phillips.

Very interesting 20 20 20 rule i will definitely give it ago and stop feeling so guilty when I enjoy my big bag of crisps. Ron Middleton. Peter Greenhill. I do tend to look for reward if I have worked hard. Thats usually sugar or alcohol. I am adopting the strategies to avoid that one choosing water or exercise.

I have a good audio book which helps too. Definitely what Im doing. Good article. Need to revisit. Jay Keep. Debbie Dixon. I find i do emotional eat and it good to see the Reasons for it i take in what you are saying and take it day by day form now no. Mandy Martin. I am a person who rushes everything and I never slow down when eating.

I will try the 20 20 20 plan. Carolyn Spence. Heather Buchanan. Jane Cattell. This really useful information. dianafroberts yahoo. Tamara Willner.

Hi Diana, thank you for your comment! To find out more about the Second Nature programme, take our health quiz here.

As seen on. All Blog Diabetes Exercise Lifestyle Mind Myth Busting Nutrition Recipes Sleeping. Habit Change 3 techniques to overcome emotional eating. Written by Tamara Willner Medically reviewed by Fiona Moncrieff 8 min read Last updated February All foods can be included as part of a healthy diet.

Key points: Removing the guilt often associated with emotional eating episodes is important to help you overcome them Avoid labelling foods or putting strict rules around certain foods, which can foster a negative relationship with food Try to adopt a more balanced and flexible viewpoint towards food and allow yourself to enjoy the foods you love mindfully.

Take home message Mindful eating is an effective strategy to help us be more in control of our food choices. Being prepared for emotional eating cravings ahead of time can also help us to better manage these in the moment.

Remember that we all need an individualised approach to manage emotional eating better. It will take time and practice to overcome this, and we should approach this process with kindness and acceptance towards ourselves.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this article helpful. You might also like. What is emotional eating? Are you scared of losing weight?

Make losing weight feel Second Nature. The first step on your Second Nature journey is to take our health quiz. Take our quiz. Gayle Munnings 19 June, Anna 23 June, Leslie 28 April, Debra 10 March,

Studies show that mindful eating techniques can you help curb binge eating, stop impulsive food choices, stop rewarding yourself with food, control weight and reduce body mass index. You can learn to refocus your eating patterns. Meanwhile here are some tips to get you started:.

With some practice, mindful eating can help you find the joy in food and learn to listen to — and love — your body. To find a dietitian who specializes is mindful eating:. Donate now.

Home How to curb emotional eating. Health seekers. The emotional-weight connection Emotional eating is a coping mechanism that some people use to soothe stress, fear, anger, boredom and loneliness. Get started You can learn to refocus your eating patterns.

Meanwhile here are some tips to get you started: Write it down. Look for patterns to see the connection between your mood and food cravings.

Break the cycle. If you identify a negative pattern, take steps to change it. Maybe you can substitute healthier alternatives to replace junk food, or reduce portion sizes. Or, take a walk when a craving hits to distract yourself from temptation. Ditch the distractions. Enjoy every bite and pay attention to your fullness cues.

Rate then bite. Before you reach for a snack, take a second to rate your hunger on a scale. The good news is that if you're prone to emotional eating, you can take steps to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track with your weight-loss goals.

Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness. Major life events or, more commonly, the hassles of daily life can trigger negative emotions that lead to emotional eating and disrupt your weight-loss efforts.

These triggers might include:. Although some people eat less in the face of strong emotions, if you're in emotional distress you might turn to impulsive or binge eating, quickly consuming whatever's convenient without enjoyment.

In fact, your emotions can become so tied to your eating habits that you automatically reach for a treat whenever you're angry or stressed without thinking about what you're doing. Food also serves as a distraction. If you're worried about an upcoming event or stewing over a conflict, for instance, you may focus on eating comfort food instead of dealing with the painful situation.

Whatever emotions drive you to overeat, the end result is often the same. The effect is temporary, the emotions return and you likely then bear the additional burden of guilt about setting back your weight-loss goal.

This can also lead to an unhealthy cycle — your emotions trigger you to overeat, you beat yourself up for getting off your weight-loss track, you feel bad and you overeat again. When negative emotions threaten to trigger emotional eating, you can take steps to control cravings.

To help stop emotional eating, try these tips:. If you've tried self-help options but you still can't control emotional eating, consider therapy with a mental health professional. Therapy can help you understand why you eat emotionally and learn coping skills. Therapy can also help you discover whether you have an eating disorder, which can be connected to emotional eating.

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Products and services. Weight loss: Gain control of emotional eating Find out how emotional eating can sabotage your weight-loss efforts, and get tips to get control of your eating habits. By Mayo Clinic Staff.

Show references Duyff RL. Reach and maintain your healthy weight. In: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. New York, N. Whitney E, et al. Weight management: Overweight, obesity, and underweight.

In: Understanding Nutrition. Belmont, Calif. Braden A, et al. Eating when depressed, anxious, bored, or happy: Are emotional eating types associated with unique psychological and physical health correlates? Spence C. Comfort food: A review. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.

Hensrud DD expert opinion.

Likewise, people who eat to deal with stress do not just lack self-control. For some people, emotional eating is a learned behavior. During childhood, their parents give them treats to help them deal with a tough day or situation, or as a reward for something good.

Over time, the child who reaches for a cookie after getting a bad grade on a test may become an adult who grabs a box of cookies after a rough day at work. In an example such as this, the roots of emotional eating are deep, which can make breaking the habit extremely challenging.

It is common for people to also struggle with difficult or uncomfortable feelings and emotions. There is an instinct or need to quickly fix or destroy these negative feelings, which can lead to unhealthy behaviors.

And emotional eating is not only linked to negative emotions. Eating a lot of candy at a fun Halloween party, or too much on Thanksgiving are examples of eating because of the holiday occasion itself. There are also some physical reasons why stress and strong emotions can cause a person to overeat:.

It is very easy to mistake emotional hunger for physical hunger. But there are characteristics that distinguish them. Recognizing these subtle differences is the first step towards helping to stop emotional eating patterns. Emotional hunger tends to hit quickly and suddenly and feels urgent.

Physical hunger is usually not as urgent or sudden unless it has been a while since a person ate. Emotional hunger is usually associated with cravings for junk food or something unhealthy.

Someone who is physically hungry will often eat anything, while someone who is emotionally hungry will want something specific, such as fries or a pizza. Mindless eating is when someone eats without paying attention to or enjoying what they are consuming. An example is eating an entire container of ice cream while watching television, having not intended to eat that much.

This behavior usually happens with emotional eating, not eating through hunger. Emotional hunger does not originate from the stomach, such as with a rumbling or growling stomach. Emotional hunger tends to start when a person thinks about a craving or wants something specific to eat.

Giving in to a craving, or eating because of stress can cause feelings of regret, shame, or guilt. These responses tend to be associated with emotional hunger. On the other hand, satisfying a physical hunger is giving the body the nutrients or calories it needs to function and is not associated with negative feelings.

Emotional eating is a common experience and is not usually associated with physical hunger. Some people succumb to it occasionally while others can find it impacts on their lives and may even threaten their health and mental wellbeing.

Anyone who experiences negative emotions around their eating habits should arrange a visit to their doctor to discuss their issues. They may also want to consult a registered nutritionist or another therapist to help them find solutions or coping mechanisms.

Overeating can lead to obesity and other health problems over time. Stuffing emotions. Boredom or feelings of emptiness.

Do you ever eat simply to give yourself something to do, to relieve boredom, or as a way to fill a void in your life? You feel unfulfilled and empty, and food is a way to occupy your mouth and your time.

In the moment, it fills you up and distracts you from underlying feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction with your life. Childhood habits. Think back to your childhood memories of food. Did your parents reward good behavior with ice cream, take you out for pizza when you got a good report card, or serve you sweets when you were feeling sad?

These habits can often carry over into adulthood. Or your eating may be driven by nostalgia—for cherished memories of grilling burgers in the backyard with your dad or baking and eating cookies with your mom.

Social influences. Getting together with other people for a meal is a great way to relieve stress, but it can also lead to overeating.

You may also overeat in social situations out of nervousness. You probably recognized yourself in at least a few of the previous descriptions. One of the best ways to identify the patterns behind your emotional eating is to keep track with a food and mood diary.

Every time you overeat or feel compelled to reach for your version of comfort food Kryptonite, take a moment to figure out what triggered the urge.

Write it all down in your food and mood diary: what you ate or wanted to eat , what happened to upset you, how you felt before you ate, what you felt as you were eating, and how you felt afterward. Maybe you always end up gorging yourself after spending time with a critical friend.

Once you identify your emotional eating triggers, the next step is identifying healthier ways to feed your feelings. Diets so often fail because they offer logical nutritional advice which only works if you have conscious control over your eating habits.

In order to stop emotional eating, you have to find other ways to fulfill yourself emotionally. You need alternatives to food that you can turn to for emotional fulfillment. BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more.

Take the assessment and get matched with a therapist in as little as 48 hours. Most emotional eaters feel powerless over their food cravings. You feel an almost unbearable tension that demands to be fed, right now!

But the truth is that you have more power over your cravings than you think. Emotional eating tends to be automatic and virtually mindless. Can you put off eating for five minutes?

Or just start with one minute. Don't tell yourself you can't give in to the craving; remember, the forbidden is extremely tempting. Just tell yourself to wait. While you're waiting, check in with yourself.

How are you feeling? What's going on emotionally? Even if you end up eating, you'll have a better understanding of why you did it. This can help you set yourself up for a different response next time. Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions can be scary. To do this you need to become mindful and learn how to stay connected to your moment-to-moment emotional experience.

This can enable you to rein in stress and repair emotional problems that often trigger emotional eating. When you eat to feed your feelings, you tend to do so quickly, mindlessly consuming food on autopilot.

Slowing down and savoring your food is an important aspect of mindful eating, the opposite of mindless, emotional eating. Try taking a few deep breaths before starting your food, putting your utensils down between bites, and really focusing on the experience of eating.

Pay attention to the textures, shapes, colors and smells of your food. How does each mouthful taste? How does it make your body feel? You can even indulge in your favorite foods and feel full on much less. Eating more mindfully can help focus your mind on your food and the pleasure of a meal and curb overeating.

Icy fingers and toes: Poor circulation or Raynaud's phenomenon? Some people cope with difficult situations by reaching for comfort food. Chowing down on ice cream or macaroni and cheese can make everything seem like it's going to be okay. And there may be a reason why, according to the Harvard Special Health Report Lose Weight and Keep It Off.

Turns out, there are parts of the brain that are rewarded from eating high-fat or high-sugar foods. And more than a decade of psychological research suggests that any behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated.

However, eating comfort food when things get tough—also known as emotional eating or stress eating—is not a solution to life's challenges. It only works temporarily. Worse, it causes longer-term distress if it brings about weight gain.

You may be able to stop stress eating or emotional eating by figuring out why you need comfort food. Does it calm you down, cheer you up, compensate you for a tough day, or some combination? Recognizing these thought patterns can make it easier to resist giving in. It also helps to realize that emotional eating doesn't solve the problem that made you upset.

Another way to control emotional eating is to figure out what your triggers are. Keep a food diary that records not only what and how much you ate, but also how you felt at the time. Once you recognize a pattern, develop a strategy to break it.

For instance, if you often eat because you think you deserve it after a tough day, remember that you also deserve to lose weight, feel healthy, and be proud of yourself. If you eat because of stress, learn to dial back that stress. Yoga, meditation, and regular exercise can help reduce stress levels.

The best distractions from emotional eating are things that take only about five minutes—just long enough to help you switch gears. The more ways you can think of to distract yourself, the easier it will become over time to stop stress eating.

Instead, resisting will become your new habit. If you're unsuccessful trying to stop stress eating on your own, consider turning to a therapist for cognitive behavioral therapy CBT.