Are You A Stress Eater?

Do you go crazy for chips, chocolate, ice cream, salty foods, etc? Do you eat junk food for the comfort it gives you? If so, don’t feel bad since many people do. Being a stress eater is a common occurrence and usually a control is needed by intervention by self and/or professionals. If self control is not working, many professionals are available to help such as dietitians, medical doctors, and psychologists. So, there are ways to help the stress eater, but emotionally, the difficult habits can be hard to win against – albeit, it is possible.

Tips on overcoming stress eating

Keep a food diary – this will help you to have some control over your eating by making yourself accountable for what you eat. Also, you can analyze your triggers, i.e. what causes you to binge eat, by writing down your emotions and other reasons for overeating.

Have a plan – know when you may be experiencing the most stress and be ready for it. Perhaps, have healthy snacks ready and emotionally prepare for the stress.

Get the “bad food” out of the house. If cookies are your weakness, by all means – do not keep cookies in the house. It may help to get an occasional cookie while out (just one, as a special treat). But, don’t give in to these urges.

Give yourself a break – don’t be too strict with yourself. If you are this way, you may have a backslide and maybe not go back on your diet. Allow yourself to have some treat and if you go off your diet on the weekend, for example, just get back on it on Monday morning.

Eat your treats outside the house. This will allow you to have a treat while lessening the chance of a binge. If you do binge, realize what happened, forgive yourself and get back on your diet.

Find a “doable”,   not too strict diet that will work with you and your lifestyle. You need to realize that not everyone is alike and you need to go with your instinct for healing.  

Find other ways to alleviate your stress like joining a health club, walking, yoga, or take up a hobby.

Tackle what causes your stress head-on and resolve it (if possible). Whether it is a financial problem, too much work, not enough sleep, etc …work on a solution to eliminate or reduce the stress and implement it.

So, even if the stress will remain present in you life, there are ways to deal with emotional eating.  If you need help, there are many resources in your community  Contact a local dietitian, physician, or psychologist for professional advice.