It’s important to be able to identify when you’re lapsing into bad eating habits which can have detrimental effects on your body and mental health. This is why it’s good practice to keep yourself in check to know just when to seek the right guidance and help to support you in being fit, happy and healthy.
The first step towards any goal is to acknowledge the problem. To stop emotional eating, make sure you know these 5 common signs which you should be wary and aware of as a preventative means from spiraling into binge-eating:
1. You can’t control it even when you want to
Do you find yourself unable to stop emotional eating when you are mentally trying to fight yourself against it? Does it often become too hard to control your urges and you block out any chance of consolation to convince yourself otherwise?
Your body is trying to gain instantaneous gratification which comes from food. You need to make sure that you are surrounding yourself with only healthy food alternatives which you can eat without going for the sugary and carb-filled ones. This can seem like an impossible task, especially on holidays like Halloween when all you want to do is indulge in sweets. However, there are many ways you can still satisfy your cravings while eating nutritious snacks. You could try making spooky and delicious appetizers like Deviled Egg Eyeballs, Monster Avocado Toasts, or Roasted Pumpkin Seed Hummus.
2. You splurge eat in secret
Trying to build a secret stash and hiding food so other people won’t see you splurge is one of the simplest and most common ways you can overeat without realizing it. This is because when you feel like no one is watching, the freedom to eat whatever and however you want can result in exceeding the limit.
If you feel embarrassed to eat in public and starve yourself in the presence of others, just so you can finally eat in secret – you’re giving yourself the false satisfaction that just because they don’t see you eat, it won’t count. But that’s not true. Once you start to notice that you’re hiding what you’re eating, ask yourself why. Why do I need to hide what I’m eating? Having healthy conversations with yourself is the first step to stop emotional eating.
3. You feel mentally stressed out before and after eating
There’s a reason why people call pizzas, donuts and chocolate “comfort food”. They make us feel better. You feel stressed and tense when you don’t have food. But you feel guilty and disgusted with yourself after eating too. It’s important to know that your brain tricks you into thinking food will give you the ultimate satisfaction, so you feel mentally agitated into falling into the urges trap. This kind of emotional eating is your mind’s way of manipulating you into believing you’ll feel happier and much better once you’ve splurged.
However, after eating, the feelings of guilt are mentally heavy. And you never feel better. It only becomes a temporary fleeting feeling of fullness which subsides quickly. The best way to tackle this is to acknowledge that overeating doesn’t bring positive emotions but instead, reinforces negative ones. This will make it easier for yourself to understand how your mind falsely tries to convince you to overeat and thus, stop from spiraling into poor eating habits.
4. You’re always thinking of food
Your day should not revolve around thinking of what you can eat. Try to remain productive in your daily routine as a positive means to distract yourself from continuously reaching out for food or keep healthy snacks handy with you at times of your hunger urges!
5. You’re eating even when you’re full
Do you feel nauseated and uneasiness after you overeat? Starting to feel sick and still continuing to eat is a common indication that you’re binge-eating. This is because your eating as a hobby rather than as a necessity. With guidance from health coaches at Not Salmon, you can be sure to be part of a course which takes care of your fitness goals and develops your mind to be able to understand which triggers you need to identify to stop binge-eating.
