Last week, I wrote a post about juice cleansing, which was a very positive experience for me. On the last afternoon of my cleanse, after my blog post had gone up, my one year old daughter came down with a virus. She had a fever, and spent several hours laying on my chest, crying. It was heartbreaking and stressful for me.
For the first time in my 3 days on juice, I wanted to give up the cleanse. I fantasized about wine while sipping my green juice. I wanted to eat a huge plate of pasta. I suddenly had this craving for carbs. I wasn’t hungry, but I was upset and stressed over my daughter’s health. This type of emotional eating that occurs under stress is extremely common. My experience was a classic example.
What is emotional eating? It is defined as turning to food during times of stress, sadness or other emotions, instead of eating when hungry. Emotional eating is quite common and most of us fall prey to it at some point. These strong cravings associated with our emotions come on immediately. A common example often seen in movies and tv shows is eating a tub of ice cream in times of stress or sadness. Giving into these cravings never makes us feel better, and usually makes us feel worse. The truth is that feeding your emotions does not make the feelings go away.
The good news is that there are ways to prevent emotional eating from sabotaging a typically healthy diet. One of the biggest triggers for emotional eating is stress. Stress leads to high levels of cortisol in the body, which in turn leads to cravings for fatty and salty food. In order to prevent these cravings, the best step to take is to try to reduce stress in your life. There is not one cure-all for stress, and it is an individual journey for each of us. Some ideas to try for overall stress reduction include regular exercise, meditation, following a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, bodywork and aromatherapy.
Another way to reduce emotional eating is to find other outlets for your feelings in the moment. This is particularly important since emotional eating usually involves an immediate craving for food. Instead of giving into the urge to eat during stressful times, consider calling a friend, going for a walk, or journaling.
Another tip for preventing emotional eating is to take a 5 minute break when the craving hits before eating. This can help prevent the feeling of needing that pizza NOW! While you are waiting for those 5 minutes, move out of the kitchen or drink some water. This can help reduce the cravings associated with emotional eating.
Lastly, consider finding a way to deal with the underlying emotions in your life that are causing the cravings. Again, there are many different ways to do this. Some people prefer therapy, others prefer exercise. Some other ideas include relying on a friend or family for support, joining a group, creative expression, movement classes or any other activities that help you release emotions.
If you are struggling with emotional eating, I hope that you will try some of these tips. Although emotional eating is common and something that most, if not all, of us have dealt with, there are ways to stop the cycle of cravings. People often feel shame and guilt after giving into emotional eating, but it is important to remember to be kind to yourself during these times. No one is perfect, but each day is a new opportunity to try to break this habit!
As for my experience last week, I avoided the wine and pasta and stuck with my cleanse. However, I did acknowledge that it was an upsetting afternoon, and tried to de-stress after my daughter went to sleep by taking a bath. Writing this blog post was a great release. Luckily, my daughter woke up fever-free and healthy the next morning, and was back to her usual happy self.
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