ARE YOU AN EMOTIONAL EATER?

ARE YOU AN EMOTIONAL EATER?
 
Eat healthy food. Keep away from ice-cream, sweets, chocolates, etc.
Food choices   
Studies have shown that food choices often act as a mirror showing exactly what emotions are prompting the desire to overeat.
If you are one of those who craves for something to eat even if he/she is not terribly hungry, and you then opt for cookies, potato chips, chocolate, French fries, hot dogs, nuts, etc, it means that your feelings of anger, stress, frustration, resentment, burnout, bitterness, or self-disgust, have overwhelmed you, or your desire for excitement is causing you to seek chewy, crunchy foods.
 You may be munching on a cookie or a candy bar, but what you really want is to chew on something in your life: to end the frustration caused by your spouse or your boss. This sort of craving is “head hunger” because it is generated by thoughts, attitudes and pressures.
On the other hand, if you choose pasta, ice-cream, bread, a milkshake, a slice of cake, eggs, etc, it means that you are probably struggling with irritating feelings, as described earlier, or lack of meaning in your life. You also may be feeling fatigued or ill.
Such emotions are called “heart hunger” because people who are feeling them often crave soft, creamy, comfort foods to fill a void in their lives.
Mood and food
There is a distinct relationship between mood and food. Variations in craving for food may be due to unexpected changes at work, going out for dinner, dining at a buffet, etc, where one tends to overeat. Moods can also trigger over-eating.
Major life events like unemployment, health problems, divorce, shortage of emotional support, daily life hassles, a difficult commute to work, bad weather and changes in normal routine, may trigger emotional eating.
Emotional eaters do not necessarily eat more food. They eat more unhealthy foods - starchy, sweet, salty and fatty foods. Consequently, if stress or negative emotions are chronic, emotional eating can cause health problems like weight gain and increased cardio-vascular risk.
Remedies
Where then is the remedy? How can emotional eaters curb their cravings? Of course there is no magic formula. However, the following tips may be useful.
Maintain a food diary: Diligently jot down every morsel of food you put into your mouth. Chances are that you will be shocked at the long list and the “avoidable” items.
Develop alternatives to eating: Whenever you are tempted to raid the fridge or open the cookie tin, do something else. Go for a walk, listen to music, play with the dog, call up a friend, have a pedicure, give yourself a facial, do some ironing, etc. This will distract your mind away from food
C Learn to recognise true hunger: Train yourself to recognise true hunger. Have hearty, healthy meals. Relax at mealtimes and do not eat absent-mindedly. Even if you are eating alone, lay the table, use proper crockery and cutlery, and make it an enjoyable experience. Don’t snack in-between meals.
If you must snack, keep healthy snacks at hand: Fresh fruits, carrot cucumber sticks, brown bread, roasted popcorn, etc, are all low fat and healthy munchies. Don’t keep ice-cream,    sweets,pastries, chocolate etc.at home.