emotional eating

molly09

I am such an emotional eater - and I binge a lot!!
I eat when I am depressed (a lot), happy, worried, anxious, stressed etc

I also eat a lot when driiving (which is a lot), get a urge to stop at petrol station and get crisps, choc and even ice cream at time.

I am trying to do things instead of eating when I am feeling like this
I have tried reading
going for a walk
messing on the phone to keep busy
phoning people


I am just wondering has anyone any techniques to help me with this??

Stench Blossoms

Have you gone to see someone about it?

Macha

The first step is awareness so well done for recognising that it is emotional drivers that are causing you to overeat.

My suggestion as a next step would be to now work on trying to recognise the overeating when you're doing it. Some people do a food diary, keeping track of how they're feeling and what they're eating, others just try to be more 'mindful'. Once you're aware of it in the moment, you can start trying to stop the impulse before or at least while you're eating.

Personally, my overeating was a cultural and habitual thing built up over years and it didn't go away immediately. You might find it useful to go to speak to a therapist about it, or you can see it as more of a habit-changing process. There are plenty of books on overeating, and habit breaking available. You might want to first see how far you can progress yourself and then call on a professional for help if you feel stuck.

Oh and best of luck with it! Remember the aim isn't to be perfect but to be better.

Lola B

Believe it or not sugar is actually addictive, it releases chemicals in your brain like other drugs do, I'm not an expert but here is a podcast by an expert, Dr. Vera Tarman.

Food Addiction

I can safely say I was addicted to sugar, silly as that sounds. I would have 2-3 big chocolate bars a day (kit-kat chunkies or mars bars) and a big bag of jellies. And I tried for a year to cut sugar out of my diet "cold turkey". Eventually I decided to try and quit it for lent. The first few days were the hardest, I was really cranky. Then after that I had to go through roughly 3 months of cravings, I used to deal with that by eating lots fruit, although to be honest I think it's better not to even do that, and have no sweet things at all!

I think the reason I managed to do it was because I took responsibility for my own problem, your post started off trying to excuse your behaviour. You can call yourself an "emotional eater" and go to a counsellor and you will still be overweight at the end of it. Don't blame it on depression, I don't mean to make light of your depression, but eating unhealthy is probably contributing to your depression, not the other way around!

Lola B

Also even the crisps you mentioned are just another type of sugar because white bread, crisps, pasta and all other refined carbs have a high glycemic index, meaning that they release sugar into your bloodstream, so if you do try to quit sugar and don't also cut out refined carbs you will fail miserably.