Even before coronavirus quarantine, stress and emotional eating were the biggest nutritional challenges faced by my clients.
Stress eating is even more widespread now, as everyone tries to navigate an uncertain and upsetting situation while being confined to their homes.
It’s not easy to overcome these challenges, but it is absolutely possible. If you’re tired of feeling trapped in the emotional eating cycle, try using one or more of the tips below.
By slowing down, gaining awareness, experimenting with your actions and environment, and being kind to yourself, you can break free of stress eating.
Get curious and pay attention.
Stress eating happens so fast that it seems to come out of the blue. Before you even know what’s happening, you’re finished with a pint of ice cream or are working on your second sleeve of girl scout cookies. We’ve all been there!
Although it seems automatic, stress eating is always preceded by a cue. Some event, emotion, interaction, or other stimulus triggers you to dive into the familiar cycle. These can be negative cues, like wanting to avoid an unpleasant emotional state, or positive cues, like associating a certain food with happy memories of a place or person.
If you’re not sure what your cues are – and there could be many of them – the fist step is to pay more attention. Take notes after you stress eat. What were you doing before? How did you feel? What were you thinking about? Who were you with? What time of day was it?
It’s helpful to write this stuff down in a journal or on a note on your phone so you can review it and look for patterns. In time, you will start to identify specific cues and build greater awareness around your behavior.
Give yourself other options.
So you’ve identified your stress eating cues – now what?
You need other tasks that you can turn to when a craving strikes. Ideally, these other tasks will help you address the real need you’re trying to solve through food.
Are you feeling anxious or stressed? Try going for a walk, journaling for a few minutes, or sitting quietly and following your breath.
Are you lonely? Call or facetime a friend.
Are you bored? Go for a walk, read a good book, play a game, or start tackling a household chore.
Are you actually hungry? Try reaching for a healthy snack like fresh fruit, veggies, or protein.
I made a list on my phone of all the things I can do instead of stress eating. Create your own list and reference it when you feel the urge to reach for food. Most of the things on your list should be easy to do or you run the risk of ignoring them.
Make it easier/make it harder.
Our environment has a huge influence on our actions. If you’re struggling with stress eating, you can rearrange your kitchen and pantry to make it easier to eat healthy foods and harder to eat junk food. Some ideas:
- Keep a bowl of fresh fruits out on the counter in plain sight.
- Keep treat foods packaged and out of sight if possible, such as in a pantry with a closed door.
- Keep chopped veggies or other healthy snacks in the front of your fridge.
- If you know you have a hard time resisting certain treat foods, don’t buy them and don’t let others bring them into the house.
Plate it and savor it.
Sometimes, you’re going to indulge in treats. If you’ve followed the steps above and consciously decided you really want to eat something, do your best to enjoy the experience.
Plate your food by removing it from the container, placing however much you plan to eat on a plate or in a bowl, and sitting down at the table to eat it.
Savor your treat by eating slowly and minimizing distractions. You may be surprised at how much more satisfying eating can be when you’re mentally present.
Practice self compassion.
When I was knee-deep in my eating disorder, I lived in a constant state of shame. I felt terrible about myself for the way I was eating, which only made me want to give myself the middle finger and eat more. It was incredibly tough to break free from this vicious cycle.
Many of us think we can motivate ourselves to change by shaming and berating ourselves. In reality, this only feeds the bad habit cycle.
The answer is not to punish or talk down to yourself, but to be kind and gentle. When you overindulge, forgive yourself and try to learn from the experience. Understand that you’re not alone (especially these days) and you’re not broken beyond repair.
The goal of self compassion is not to give yourself an excuse to stress eat, but rather to rid you of toxic feelings of guilt and shame which keep you trapped.
Overeating doesn’t make you a bad person and it doesn’t mean you’ll never achieve your health and fitness goals. It’s just one more obstacle to overcome so you can grow and live your happiest, healthiest life.
If you want more help with this, I’m here for you. Fill out an application for my online coaching program for personal support, accountability, and compassion from a coach who personally knows how hard it is to combat stress eating.