Overcoming Emotional Eating

Food is an essential component for us to survive! But, as Galbraith said, “More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.”

To overcome this problem of excessive eating or better still, emotional eating, you need to identify the issue and motivate yourself to make the required changes.

“Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular top ups.” – Peter Davies

To make the required changes, there needs to be a mind shift, and for this mind shift to take place, there needs to be an identification of the limiting decision that creates the limiting belief that drives you to “emotional eating.”

Let’s now have a look at some reasons why people emotionally eat:
i. Boredom
ii. Loneliness
iii. Fatigue
iv. Stress
v. Many other emotional reasons

It may seem odd that this is the leading cause of obesity in the world! The reality is that none of these reasons have anything to do with real hunger. They are just triggers that strategically placed in your mind to reach for food when you get emotional.

The association you have with food occurs at an unconscious level, and it would be wise to realize that all learning, behavior, and change will occur at that same level.

Here are the steps to overcome emotional eating:
1. Become aware of your habit.
2. Identify the triggers that lead you to emotional eating.
3. Identify the limiting decision that was made for this trigger.
4. Once the limiting decision, and thus the limiting belief, has been identified, this belief needs to be changed and the trigger pattern interrupted and replaced with a new belief and a new strategy.

Once you become aware of the beliefs that lead you to unwanted behaviors and decisions about food you will be able to take the steps necessary to change them.