Overcome Emotional Eating By Learning From Your Binge Behaviors

JUST FOR TODAY:  If you eat for emotional reasons, forgive yourself, and learn from this experience.  Identify your emotional triggers and your true needs.

In the midst of an intense emotion, you may have no idea what you are feeling – other than having an intense desire to eat.  If you do binge eat, then you may feel guilty or ashamed of your behavior, and not want to think about it.  To be free of this guilt and shame, it's important to realize there is something for you to learn from the emotional eating episode.  Pause to reflect about why the episode occurred.  Try to identify the emotional trigger – label the feeling to the best of your ability.  Was it anger?  Stress?  Loneliness?  How did food help you deal with the feelings?  Are there alternatives to food that could have met your true needs?  If you do eat for emotional reasons, "digest" the experience.  There is always something to learn, which can ultimately help you to overcome emotional eating.

©2010 by "Dr. Dorie" McCubbrey, M.S.Ed., Ph.D. – Eating Disorder & Obesity Treatment Specialist – Denver, Colorado