Emotional eating is one of the most prevalent and accepted things in today’s society. While it is widely accepted and joked about, this is something that can be managed so you are better able to cope with life without using food. I successfully beat an 18 year battle with anorexia, bulimia and food issues. I am here to help you do the same.

Five ways to stop emotional eating:

#1 Notice the trigger. I always say that when you find yourself over eating there is typically an alarm that sounds moments before you start over eating. It is very important to start noticing this alarm. I call it the fire alarm because the house is filled with smoke and the alarm starts beeping. At this point you have choices. You can let the house continue to fill with smoke as the alarm gets more insistent or you can find the source of the fire and air the house out before it burns down. So notice the trigger. The sooner you do this, the better you will be. This takes practice. But the very next time you find yourself with your hand in a box of cereal or climbing on the counter to take down the box of cookies, stop drop and roll! Okay, just kidding don’t- well maybe you should. But put the food down and say ah-ha this is the alarm!

#2 Get away from the food and grab a journal. I personally love to type everything because I am fast, but you can grab an actual journal or go to your computer or even blackberry. Email it to yourself or just write it out. What happened? What triggered the alarm? The more you practice this the less over eating and emotional eating will occur. Because you are WAKING up your senses to something that is essentially mindless. So why did you start eating all the Oreos? Ahhh, well be like a private investigator. What happened an hour prior to this event? A good example is you had a phone call with your boss who made you feel guilty about a project you were working on, then your mom called and you avoided her call and felt bad. Ahh, the guilt mounts and instead of dealing with each thing as it happens your emotional state begins to slip. AND there you are climbing on the counter like some sort of Olympic athlete in a counter and cabinet competition.

#3 Thoroughly identify the feeling. In the example above two things happened resulting in guilt. What were your choices to manage this? Well you could have gone for a walk, played with the dog, watched TV or even called your boss back and explained yourself. What about your mother then calling and you’re avoiding her? You had a choice and you are an adult. Realize feeling guilty for screening phone calls is not a healthy response. Instead you are protecting yourself and your time, feelings, energy. So actually you were in control. Cookies just made it worse and landed you back in that state of “what is wrong with me”?

#4 Get dressed nicely and groom yourself. Even if it is the evening, at least put on some cute pajamas and some nice smelling lotions. Go and sit in a quiet spot (mine is my super comfy bed) and think about how you feel. Use a scale of 1 (being the worst) to 10 (being the best) to determine how good you feel. Do this exercise for four points: one hour before the emotional eating binge, during the binge, directly after when you get away from the food and an hour after. I can bet you $100 you will uncover an emotional roller coaster; you may even feel worse than when it started! Note this and observe it.

#5 Write down five things that make you closer to an 8, 9 or even 10 on the emotional feelings scale. This can be anything from a happy memory (mine is getting my dog Barney on vacation in Chicago) to wearing your really cool Ugg boots with a Burberry scarf and mini skirt (I live in LA). Now how can you take yourself from a #2 to a #8? I want you to write FIVE things on a little note card to help you feel better WITHOUT eating. Carry this card with you. The next time you notice the fire alarm going off, run (don’t walk) to get this card. And read it. Force your eyes to read it and try just one of these things. With practice you will learn to replace the automatic and almost unconscious emotional eating as a coping skill- to actually making yourself feel happy and much better emotionally all by yourself! Using simple thoughts!

Good luck!  And if you need more information or help feel free to email me: bridgetloves@gmail.com