Raise your hand if you have been overcome with emotions at least once in your life? 

Yep, I think we can all agree that those feelings of happy, sad, angry, frustrated emotions have snuck in and completely overwhelmed us from time to time. Aim I, right?

We have all had a stressful day at work, or a hectic day at home with the kids, or simply a frustrating day because of you name it.

Let’s not let these emotions affect our eating habits and lead to a negative relationship with food.  

You have the control to fully stop these from overcoming you!

Think about it -- eating will NEVER actually solve the root cause of your emotions, stress, or boredom.

A healthy relationship with food starts when you can find a way to FEEL and process your emotions without needing food or alcohol as a crutch.

Check out 4 steps you can take to beat emotional eating without food once and for all!

1. When you first feel emotions/stress/boredom, take a deep breath. Don’t impulsively just eat. Instead, stop and be honest with yourself and ask yourself: 

• What’s going on here? Am I upset or stressed or actually hungry?

• What’s causing your distress?

• What’s in your control?

• What’s out of your control?
  

2. Ask yourself if you’re physically hungry. Chances are you aren’t and you can move along to something else and wait till you actually feel hungry. 

3. Eat mindfully, if you’re not hungry, ask yourself if you’re willing to find another way to process your emotions. Maybe that is by taking a walk, playing a game on your phone, watching something on TV, or calling a friend. 

4. If you choose to eat, pay attention to your emotions and thoughts while eating. Stop eating when you feel full. Don’t just bring that whole bag of chips to the couch and eat mindlessly until it's gone, make a smaller portion and let your body truly feel full before going in for more. 

By pausing for a second to ask ourselves these important questions we are checking in with our bodies and following our hunger cues rather than letting that feeling of stress from a work call completely consume us and lead to mindless eating and in turn a negative relationship with food.

Try these steps the next time you feel like eating mindlessly and allow yourself to fully feel your emotions without just turning to food.