July 2, 2009
Emotional Eating: A Prime Ingredient for Obesity. Interesting Facts to Take Into Consideration
Sandra found her weight ballooning 60 pounds as soon as her separation from her husband. While part of the weight gain was apparently tied to the tablets she was taking, the rest appeared to be the effect of what can be described as emotional eating. In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the trouble of emotional eating for both women and men. Actually, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating. According to Women Today publication, it has been estimated that as much as 75 percent of overeating is qualified as the emotions.
For a number of people, overeating stems from anxiety. As, if you find yourself consuming a complete bag of potato chips, it’s possible that anxiety is the source. While many people comprehend that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an antidote to worry, they may not comprehend that indulging in comfort food in order to fight anxiety can be dangerous too.
In other cases, overeating may be the product of depression. If you feel exhausted, desperate, and have lost interest in your usual activities, you may be suffering from a depressive period. In order to deal with these uncomfortable feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up. The difficulty is that the food can lead to weight gain, which can lead to additional depression.
At times, overeating may be a indication of monotony. An person may figure that he or she has nothing better to do than overeat. This can be especially true when one is watching television or surfing the Internet. Rather than trying to determine a cause for the boredom, an person may just try to “fix” it by indulging in high-fat, high-calorie food.
How do you see if you are an emotional eater? Ask yourself some main questions: Do I tend to eat when I’m worried? Timid? Miserable? Do I find that eating lifts my feelings? Am I spending more time eating than engaging in other activities I enjoy? Do my binges come after I’ve suffered frustration? Am I turning to food in order to deal with the death of a loved one…a divorce…or the defeat of my favorite team? If the answers to any of these questions is “yes,” you might be overeating merely for emotional reasons.
As soon as you’ve identified yourself as an emotional eater, you’ll need to take steps to correct your behavior. Perhaps the most helpful system is leisure activity. In other words, if you find yourself reaching for the cookie jar, find another activity to engage in. The answer could be taking a walk, kickboxing, or dancing. Or it could be something not as much of physically demanding, for instance needlepoint or crochet. The goal is to get your hands…and possibly the rest of your body…moving. In time, you might find the urge to overeat subsides as you become involved with other activities.
An additional helpful step you can take is to identify the triggers for your emotional eating. Do you tend to binge in mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or exact before bedtime? Are you snacking while watching television, while at the PC, or when you’re sitting in your preferred chair? By asking yourself these questions, you can discover the time of day when you overeat, as well as the location for your binging. With this information, you can learn to re-direct your behavior to less fattening pursuits.
However one more advantageous system is to develop a support network to help you combat overeating. The members of your support team could incorporate your spouse, children, parents, friends, or other over-eaters. You may even take into account joining a support group which specializes in helping those who engage in binge eating. If you feel the need to overeat, contact a member of your support team. Talking through your emotions could provide you with the emotional free you need, making overeating needless.
If your anxiety or depression persists, consider seeing a consultant. He or she can help you develop more effectual coping mechanisms. If you find it difficult to talk to friends or family about your overeating, a consultant can provide you with the talk therapy you need to defeat your trouble.
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