Your brain’s been kidnapped. You caught yourself stress eating. Stress eating is one of the most challenging types of emotional eating. We turn to food to relieve that stress.
Are you now satisfied? For a short while it’s satisfying, but then suddenly you feel guilty. You ate without thinking and now you feel worse. How did that even happen?
We all get stressed from time to time and the key to ending emotional eating is to find tools that work for you.
Relax and Breathe
Stress is built up in your body and you are unknowingly creating more stress. As soon as you start relaxing you’ll feel less tense.
All it takes is 60 seconds to yourself and just breathe. Sit with your eyes closed and your back straight. Place your hand on your heart and just take deep breaths through your nose and exhale through your mouth while focusing on your heartbeat. Breathing not only relaxes you but helps clear out your mind of negative emotions.
Exercise
Overall, exercise can weaken some of the negative emotions of stress. Physical activity produces endorphins which is a type of chemical known for killing pain. When endorphins are produced, they reduce stress and tension. Exercise doesn’t only mean intense workouts but also meditation, massage, walking, running, and yoga. This will make you feel energized and lower your levels of stress.
Social Support
When you connect with someone who knows you or someone you trust, it can work wonders. Social support seems to have a great effect on decreasing stress levels. You may need advice, a laugh, or just a listening ear from family and friends which can make a huge difference. Don’t be afraid to phone someone, it will boost your mental health. Having a good social support group will help you tremendously.
Listening to Music
Let the music carry you away. Music has a lot of power, especially over emotions. Thankfully, we have many genres and types of music from which to choose. Each has its effect on the human body. Once you decide what you like, “play that funky music” and let the stress melt away. Sing along if you’d like; That too releases tension. Music is an easy stress-reduction tool so, why not use it?
Write
An excellent way to clear up your thoughts is to write about it. You’re checking in on yourself. It’s important to think about the experience and express your emotions. Writing your feelings down will help you organize your thoughts and it will be less likely you’ll overeat. Just jot down a few bullet points of what, in-essence is bothering you and you’ll see a major difference. By taking the time to understand what’s bothering you, you now will look for solutions to the problem instead of turning to food.
The key to surviving emotional eating is to find the tools that work for you and use them accordingly.
Take the time to learn what works for you and don’t limit yourself either.
Explore other things that reduce stress for YOU.
