Are You Addicted To Food Or An Emotional Eater Looking For Help?

Over my many years of being in the fitness industry and working with individuals from all walks of life, I’ve seen women struggle with quite a variety of eating disorders. The truth is that the majority of women do, at one point or another, battle at least one of many abnormal eating patterns. Some of them recover quickly, and others, sadly, never do.

Since I’m well aware of the effects of these food addictions on the women who have them, along with the embarrassment and misinformation that often comes with the territory, I’ve decided to write a series of articles addressing the different disorders, their symptoms, and possible treatments.

I believe it all stems from emotional eating. The reason I’ve decided to go with this particular disorder first, is because it just happens to be the most common among my female clientele. The majority of the women with whom I’ve worked have, at one point or another, dealt with emotional relationships with food and would consider themselves to be compulsive overeaters.

I’ve helped thousands of women overcome their food addictions and compulsive overeating habits, and I can do the same for you! If you’d like further information on my food addiction services, please click here and submit a completed inquiry form.

Because there’s a lot to be said about this particular problem, the emotional eating disorder will be discussed over a series of articles. In this one, we’ll cover the definition of the term, determine your personal tendencies to be one of the millions of emotional overeating and take a look at a few steps you can take today to start healing.

Emotional Eating: The Definition

Your primary reason for consuming food should be to provide it with fuel. If you’re eating for reasons other than that, you’re most likely eating for emotional reasons. Every time you’re “craving” chocolate, chances are, you’re craving the comfort that comes along with eating it. That’s an emotion.

If you find yourself mindlessly devouring portion after portion of even healthy foods, chances are good that this is your body’s response to an emotion. Whether stress, loneliness, happiness, sadness, anxiety, or even boredom, many people get into the habit of eating as a response to various feelings, in hopes of numbing them.

Mindless eating to numb emotions.

Notice the word “habit.” Habits are hard to break. This isn’t something anyone decides to do mindfully. Being addicted to food can be a vicious cycle.

But there is hope! If you can learn to alter your response to various feelings, you can break the cycle. Is it easy? NO. But nothing worthwhile ever is.

Are You an Addicted To Food Emotional Eater?

If you aren’t sure whether what I’m talking about here applies to you or not, consider the following questions:

Do you tend to randomly open the fridge and start “picking” at foods when you *just* ate and are in no way hungry?
Do you reach for food when you’re bored, feeling stressed, irritated, angry, or sad?
Do you have a hard time stopping yourself from finishing the food that’s in front of you, even when you’re stuffed?
Do you feel guilty and regretful after consuming your unplanned meal?

Can you identify with any of the above? If you can, then you’re not alone — you’re one of the many emotional eaters who consume food to satisfy feelings rather than hunger pangs or the body’s energy requirements.

Breaking the Cycle

We all go through various stressors, that’s part of being alive. We, as women, are especially prone to undergoing an emotional roller-coaster as we run around taking care of everyone’s needs, doing a million unrelated tasks… and then, there are the natural, hormonal changes we all undergo each month that add fuel to the fire.

It’s hard to overcome bad emotional eating habits when there are so many emotions with which to deal. But you see, this is precisely the first step to overcoming your habit — dealing with your emotions!

You’re so busy taking care of everyone else, that all you have the time to do for yourself, is stuff your face with food that you know you shouldn’t be eating as you keep running around like a chicken without a head!

Thoughtlessly eating on the run is a recipe for disaster!

Dealing with this eating disorder is very trying and a long term effort, but for now, try asking yourself whether you really need the food you’re about to eat when you’re standing there and staring at the fridge.

When you’ve decided that breaking your diet for those cookies is worth it, give yourself ten minutes to calm down and reassess the situation. If you still think it’s a smart decision, go ahead and have a cookie.

Those treats won’t disappear if you just wait and let your emotions calm down a bit. If you find that you’re bored, get busy doing some other pleasurable, enjoyable activity — paint your nails, call a friend, go for a walk (or a drive) — and when you get back, those cookies will still be there! Your mind is telling you that you need to occupy it — if it wanted you to eat, you’d be feeling hungry!

Your body is craving attention from you, not from the food you’re consuming. The minute you learn to refocus, to be patient with yourself, to stop treating yourself with mindless, thoughtless actions, you’ll notice your habits start to slowly shift and the vicious cycle will begin to break.

Get to know yourself. Be patient. You deserve it.

I Eat Because I Like to Eat!

Oftentimes, when asked whether she overeats due to being an emotional eater, a client will respond by saying that she overeats because she loves food, but that it has nothing to do with emotions. “I love food, so it’s hard for me to stop,” she’ll say. “I enjoy eating tasty stuff, and get carried away — that’s how my whole family are overeaters,” is another variation.

Believe it or not, statements like these are another sure-fire way to tell whether food consumption stems from an emotional place. Sure, we all love certain foods, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying treats that taste good to us, but when you’re eating past the point of fullness, as if you’ll never see that food again, you know there’s a problem.

It’s never as simple as “I eat because I like to eat,” and admitting that to yourself is the first step to stopping this defeating behavior. Sit down with yourself, and really listen to what your mind is telling you. If you’re overeating — whether it’s chocolate, cookies, cake, chicken, or even broccoli — there’s something there to be dealt with.
Begin being mindful with yourself, starting today. Take the first step toward a healthy relationship with food, a healthy mind, and a healthy body.

Addicted To Food? You deserve better!

Emotional Eating: Instinct vs Reasoning

Here, we’ll talk about one of the possible triggers that may be putting you at risk for disordered, emotional eating or binging. Hopefully, by the time you’re done reading, you’ll have a better understanding of one of the reasons why you overeat and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Your Own Worst Enemy

There’s no doubt in my mind that just about everyone reading this has gone on various kinds of restrictive “diets” in the past. Low carbs, low fat, all “clean,” 4 ounces of protein every 2 hours and nothing but veggies at night… I could go on forever.

A million different reasons for dieting exist, and no matter how “healthy” your diet, if it deprives you of comforting foods (ones you consider “favorite”), you will want to indulge at some point.

This is the backbone of food addiction. If you don’t allow yourself the foods you’ve grown accustomed to consuming, no matter how many times you tell your conscious mind that what you’re doing is best for your body, your subconscious will still feel deprived.

Instincts vs Reasoning

Now think about this for a minute. Deep down, you’re feeling deprived. Your subconscious mind is convinced that you aren’t getting the kind of nutrition that it needs, simply because it isn’t getting the kind of nutrition that your subconscious mind really wants.

Your body can identify the difference between the two, but not your mind — it functions through habit, not logical reasoning.

This means that no matter how hard you try to resist those cookies sitting on the countertop, your subconscious will tell you that you need them. This voice will often be loud enough to overpower your logical mind, telling your subconscious that you don’t really need the cookies… but in the end, your instincts are stronger than your reasoning, which is why you’ll end up not just eating a cookie, but devouring all dozen of them.

Chances are, she'll cave in eventuallly!

Why All Dozen?

Depriving yourself from your favorite foods for prolonged periods of time ends up “convincing” your subconscious mind that those foods don’t come around very often.

So now, your instincts are telling you that your body not only needs those cookies, but also that they’re a rarity. Of course, your thinking mind realizes that this isn’t so, but in the end, your instincts are stronger — which is why you find yourself standing over the countertop, eating as many cookies as physically possible, as fast as you can.

What happens an hour later? What about the next day?

You feel endless guilt about having binged, and either swear to yourself that it’ll never happen again, or just decide that there’s no sense in bothering with trying to lose weight, you’re bound to “fail” again anyway!

Once a few days (or weeks) pass, you’re back on the wagon, making yet another attempt… that never seems to end any other way than what’s described above. Talk about a vicious cycle!

What This Means to You

Take a minute to really let the above sink in. If it rings a bell with you, how do you think you can stop it? Obviously, if you could just stop depriving yourself, that’d be a start, right?

I know what you’re thinking, “But if I never deprive myself of the peanut butter cups I love so much, how am I supposed to lose fat?!” Well, it’s all about moderation.

Stop labeling foods as "forbidden"!

Even if you’re trying to figure out how to lose weight fast to fit into that party dress and have plenty of fat to lose, you can still allow yourself small amounts of your favorite foods, or you can prepare your usual meals in ways that are reminiscent of those peanut butter cups (check out a recipe library for for lots of desserts!).

Do whatever you can to prevent yourself from feeling deprived, because once you do, it isn’t a sustainable lifestyle, and you’ll be much more prone to binging.

Does any of the above resonate with you?

Looking forward to helping you achieve all of your fitness and health goals once and for all!