Stop Stress Eating Today: 5 Ways to Regain Control Around Food
If you turn to food in times of stress, you’re not alone – it’s one of the most common ways we comfort ourselves when feeling blue or anxious. But it can also backfire – if stress eating becomes your go-to response, you may find yourself gaining weight instead of relieving your stress! If you want to stop stress eating and regain control around food, try these following steps to help you change your perspective on how to handle stress.
Why Do I Stress Eat?
Eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full are both crucial to maintaining your health, but what do you do when stress, anxiety, or other emotions throw those instincts into disarray? If you eat too much or the wrong foods—not because you need nourishment but because it makes you feel better in the short term—it can lead to weight gain and more serious health problems like diabetes and heart disease. Stress eating, or emotional eating as it’s sometimes called, is often the reason why people can’t lose weight or keep it off. But if you’re stressed out and feel like you can’t cope with food cravings, you’re not alone — in fact, it’s very common.
This guide will help you to overcome stress eating and regain control over your emotions around food so that you can live the healthiest and happiest life possible.
5 Ways to Regain Control Around Food – How to stop Emotional Eating
1) Become aware of your triggers
Become aware of what your triggers are for stress eating or emotionally eating. First, get in touch with what emotion is behind your stress eating. Then find an outlet for those feelings in order to prevent future episodes of emotional eating. You might want to try journalling or write down how you feel after overeating so that you can start getting in touch with what triggers these episodes and how they make you feel physically and emotionally.
We all have different things that make us feel like we need a little comfort in the form of food, whether it's a stressful day at work, a fight with our significant other, or just not feeling well. You'll want to take note of these things so you can come up with strategies for how you're going to handle them when they happen.
Many people struggle to overcome emotional and stress eating because they don’t know what type of eater they are. Find out what type of emotional eater you are (and get specific tips to help) by taking this quiz!
2) The Importance of Regular Meal Times
Ensure you establish regular meal times and schedule in healthy snacks so as not to overeat during meals or find yourself excessively night time eating. Find what times of day work best for you and remember, if you’re hungry outside of a meal time it’s okay to listen to your body. Keep your mealtimes consistent so you never get to the point of overly hungry. Try to plan ahead for upcoming events that make you feel anxious or worried about food, ensuring you have healthy snacks on hand. Add variety with fresh fruits and vegetables so you don't get bored with your meals.
Lastly, practice self-care by prioritizing sleep, exercise, meditation and other activities that bring joy into your life. Focus on what's good about yourself as an alternative to obsessing over what you believe is wrong with you.
3) Healing Your Relationship with food and Being Less Restrictive
It may seem like stress eating is the answer to all our problems, but it’s actually causing us even more stress. When we have an emotional response to a situation, we often reach for food because it comforts us. However, in the long run this can cause weight gain and other health problems that stress eating originally helped avoid. We need to find another way of dealing with our emotions so we can stop relying on food as a coping mechanism.
Need expert support to overcome a restrictive mindset around food? Set up a free intro call with me here to discuss health coaching
One way to heal your relationship with food is by finding an outlet for your emotions, such as through exercise or talking about what you’re going through with someone you trust. For those who don’t want to talk about what they're feeling but still need an emotional release, journaling might be good option. Keeping a daily journal or blog where you write about whatever's been weighing heavy on your mind, without judgement, will help get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Another way to feel less restricted around food is by trying not to count calories every day. Instead, focus on making healthy choices rather than restricting yourself from certain foods.
4) Get enough sleep
First, find a good time to go to bed so you can get enough sleep. Most people need about 7 hours of sleep per night, but it's different for everyone. Some people need more sleep and others less, so experiment with what works best for you. Second, develop a bedtime routine that includes eating dinner at the same time every night. This will help your body know when it's time for sleep and will also help you avoid overeating.
5) Consider saying ‘yes’ to food and focus on mindful eating
If you can relate to any of the reasons why people stress eat, there’s a good chance you have a hard time saying no when presented with food. But it’s not always about what you eat, but how you eat it. Mindful eating is one way to help stop emotional eating and binge eating recovery by taking care of your needs and setting boundaries around food.
How to Stop Stress Eating and Binge Eating
Stress and overeating are often intertwined. Binge eating is a way of coping with stress. It's important to know how to stop emotional eating and regain control around food in order to feel better. When you learn the reasons for your stress, it can help you reduce your level of anxiety and find healthier ways to cope.
If you're still struggling with binge eating recovery, talk to your therapist or nutritionist about ways to gain more control over your life. It may be that there is an underlying issue causing you to eat compulsively and this needs to be addressed before any progress can be made.
There are also many different types of therapies that offer hope, including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) which helps people recognize unhealthy patterns in their lives so they can change them. Working with a specialized nutritionist to help you heal your relationship with food and increase your confidence and knowledge around nutrition has provided many clients with relief and healing.
Binge eaters anonymous is a support group you can turn to where you can talk to like minded people dealing with the same difficulties you are experiencing. You don't have to suffer silently anymore! Start your journey to binge eating recovery today - it’s never too late to get emotional eating help. You deserve to feel great in your body and mind.
I work with many clients in my nutrition coaching program to help them heal their relationship with food, become more aware of their triggers for overeating, and learn how to make intentional and satisfying choices around food.
I find my clients have great success when they work in my health coaching programs to overcome binge eating along with seeing a therapist to focus solely on their mental health. Taking this multi-pronged approach to healing means they’re able to address the nutrition and food side of the issue - while also having support for their mental wellbeing on this journey.
If you struggle with binge eating, emotional eating, or stress eating, The Method: Healthy Habits for Life was designed to help you heal your relationship with food and create sustainable health changes.
This program is for individuals who are ready to be done with restrictive eating that leads to binges, ready to stop feeling obsessive and crazy around food, and ready to have the knowledge and tools needed to feel confident in their health habits. Learn more about The Method and become our next success story by clicking here!