Reduce Emotional Triggers To Overeat

JUST FOR TODAY:  Identify your main triggers for emotional overeating, and develop strategies to reduce the occurrence of these emotions.

When you experience certain emotions, you may also experience a desire to eat as a means of coping with those emotions.  Make a list of the top five emotions that tend to trigger emotional overeating.  Next to each  emotion on your list, identify a step that you can take to reduce the intensity of the emotion, or to reduce the frequency of its occurrence.  For example, if one of your emotional triggers is stress, think of the specific situations that are stressful for you.  Perhaps driving in rush hour traffic is stressful, and munching on your favorite foods helps you to cope.  To reduce the intensity of the stress, try listening to relaxing music while you drive.  To reduce the frequency of the stress, try driving to work earlier in the day or taking an alternate route with less traffic.  You may not be able to eliminate all of your emotional triggers, but you can reduce their intensity and frequency, so you can manage your emotions without overeating.

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