Emotional Eating Triggers: How to Identify and STOP this Habit
Do you find yourself racing to the pantry when you’re feeling down or otherwise upset? Or when you feel frustrated with your kids?
Finding comfort in food is common, and we've all heard the phrase emotional eating.
In this week's episode, I'm going to break down what emotional eating is, why we do it, and really get you to identify what your triggers emotional eating are.
That’s really the first step in order to shift our eating habits so you can ultimately be healthier
Transcript of the Episode
Andrea Heyman 00:00 Hi friends, it's Andrea Heyman here with another episode of Adventures In Feeding My Fam. Do you find yourself racing to the pantry when you're feeling down or otherwise upset? Finding comfort in food is super common. And it's part of a practice called emotional eating. Alright, stay with me Stay with me. Usually people get very uncomfortable with this topic. And because it can be so triggering to them. But I hope you can listen to the end, and hang in there, because I'm going to break down what emotional eating is why we do it, and really get you to identify your emotional eating triggers. Because once you do that is the first step in order to shift your eating habits, and ultimately, result in you being healthier.
But first, I want to tell you about a free webinar, I'm going to be offering it on February 21, at 11am. Eastern Standard Time. It's called the non-diet approach to weight loss and improved health. You know, I know that many of you have heard me say that I am a registered dietician, and my expertise, my my focus is in weight management. And you've probably also heard me say that I really do not like the weight loss industry. I think it plays on a lot of emotions, and doesn't give us like a really positive feeling. And so one of my missions is really to help others shift how they approach things. Get off the diet roller coaster, so that you can meet your weight loss and wellness goals, especially now that we're several weeks into the new year. And I know many of you set with good intentions, set new year's resolutions, but the vast majority of those by this time have gone by the wayside. I want you to retrain your thinking, your negative self talk, revamp those goals that you set for yourself, and ditch that diet mentality for good. So I hope you can join me the link will be in the show notes to sign up. And it's gonna be a lot of fun. And like I said, it's free. So come and hang out with me for an hour. And we'll have fun.
Adventures In Feeding My Fam is a weekly podcast discussing the challenges and fun around feeding your family healthy meals. I'm Andrea Heyman, and I've been a registered dietitian for over 25 years. So I know the importance of good nutrition. But I'm also a mom of three so I understand the challenges and humor that comes along with trying to make this happen. In this podcast, I'll share my tips, tricks and menus, but also share the stories and food prep failures that come along the way to interview guests. We'll discuss family food traditions, how to strengthen bonds around the family table, as well as their favorite family recipes. There isn't one right way to feed your family. But there are countless stories, you can take bits and pieces and learn from all of them.
Here's the quote I found about emotional eating that has so much truth to it. Unless an emotional eater finds a new way to make peace with her internal distress warnings, the unconscious compulsion to overeat will win out time and time again. It's so so true. A lot of us like to approach emotional eating as sort of something to be conquered and really just kind of will ourselves to overcome. But if we don't break down those habits, kind of at a deeper level, we're never able to get rid of that. How many times have you heard either yourself or someone else say, Oh, I'm an emotional eater. And they kind of resigned to it because they know that they just cannot seem to overcome this routine in this habit. But I believe that you can, however, we need to back up, look at why we do this and really begin to break those habits down from the very core of where it's happening. All right, so let's back up. What is emotional eating I'm sure you have a sense of what that is. But basically it's when people reach for food either several times a week or more often, and really to suppress and soothe negative feelings. They might feel guilt or shame after they eat this way. And it really results in a cycle of excess eating and can be related to other assertions. ceated issues, really emotional eating is associated with negative emotions that cause you a feeling of emptiness, or an emotional void. And food is believed to be the way that you can fill that void. Because it gives you a sense of instant gratification, and also a feeling of fullness, or temporary wholeness. It's important to note that it's really a way of coping, and not a way of, it doesn't really have anything to do with actual hunger. And so one factor that's important to note here is that folks that are more likely to emotionally eat often don't have a good understanding of the difference between physical and emotional hunger. They're often using some sort of negative self-talk that's related to this. And if you go back a few episodes, I spoke about kind of ditching that negative self talk. And I think it's a really important topic. Because us as moms, like we are the ultimate role model. And we want to teach our children well. And they will eventually sadly, pick up some of these habits, even if their habits that we don't want them to have. Other factors that affect emotional eating are, you know, if you are someone who kind of retreats from getting social support during times of emotional need, or if you don't engage in activities that might otherwise relieve stress. So the top one being exercise, certainly meditation and yoga are key in that as well. But it's super important to note that it is really about coping, emotional eating, like I said, provides some immediate instant gratification, but is about coping. So for you, what are the triggers that result in emotional eating, I can tell you, I've talked to many people. So I'm just going to list out some common ones. And think in your mind, if these are something that you can relate to. You've just scolded one of your kids or maybe yelled at them. And so then you have some anger, but also some guilt around doing that. And so you reach for the food. Also, if the day is over, and you're super spent, it's just been a very exhausting day. And you're kind of under satisfied with the day. Oftentimes, people will scavenge in the kitchen anxiety, I've had one mother recently tell me that she has three teenage children. And she worries about their choices, and being safe and that type of thing. So that results in her emotional eating. Sometimes there are a lot of unwritten rules that society puts on us, as parents and as mothers to be sort of, quote-unquote, perfect. And that can result in emotional eating, too. So often, it's just like an overwhelmed feeling or feeling of sadness, or that I give up. And that causes people to eat poorly as well. So I want you to think about if when you emotional eat, does it actually make you feel better? I don't think it does for anybody, it might in a very, very short term. But ultimately, does not make us feel better. So I really challenge you think about some of the examples I just gave you. And also think about what your triggers are. And I really encourage you to write it down, get it down on paper, so that you can begin to be more aware of the things that lead you to emotionally eat. That's really the first step to eradicate this habit. And it's really a habit that is so deep-rooted into our subconscious, that there are strategic things we can do to help fight that. But also we need to get down to the depths of where that's coming from. So now that we've identified the triggers, what can we do? Well, like I said, the first step is really just being aware and that is fantastic. I would journal about it for sure. I would journal about what this means to you just let the words come out. Don't like overthink it. Nothing technical, but usually journaling can give us some insight without forcing it. You don't want to force it. And secondly, I really encourage you to find ways to limit that trigger. So if there are ways to help with what's going to cause that stressor, then you want to find that and give yourself as much of that as possible. And oftentimes, I know you're gonna say, Andrea, I can't do that because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, that's a limiting belief, there are always things we can do small steps we can do to help ourselves. And in this case, I think you will be very satisfied if you begin to identify things that can limit that trigger for yourself. So if you liked this episode, then please rate and review and subscribe to the podcast, tag and share it with a friend who you think will also find value from the information that I'm putting out. If this was helpful, and you'd like to talk to me more individually about how you can meet your health and wellness goals, by focusing on breaking down your emotional eating habits, then I am really your gal. I really love doing this. And I think this is one of the keys if not the biggest key to meeting your nutrition, weight loss and general health goals. So please set up a time for a discovery call with me so we can chat more about it and then really make a plan that will work for you. The links are all going to be in the show notes. Until next time, take care