Emotional Eating: 4 Tools To Implement Now
1. JOURNALING
2. IDENTIFY TRIGGERS
3. CREATE ROUTINE
4. DEVELOP SIGNALS + CHECK IN WITH YOURSELF
I don’t know if you can relate to this but I remember evenings where I’d be on the verge of a breakdown, stuffing my face with food hoping those feelings would just suffocate as my food pushed them down in my gut spoonful after heaping spoonful.
I searched endlessly for that thing that was going to make me feel better and it always came back to food. If you haven’t lived this moment, it’ll come, and I’m here to tell you that it won’t make you feel better. Worse actually.
You’ll feel a wave of regret, then frustration, followed by anger, then sadness, and a little insecurity to close it all out. Rinse and repeat.
I’m not going to call myself an expert because I didn’t go to school to learn these tools, I’m just experienced. I’ve walked hand in hand with all kinds of disordered eating and have learned a few tricks along the way that really allow me to open my eyes to what I’m doing, learn my triggers and develop distractions to help create new ways of thinking.
If you hear something that resonates with you, apply it. Don’t read this thinking you need to apply all the changes for a sense of maximum accomplishment. Sometimes picking one small thing at a time, one task, is what’s needed to allow for a change that you’ll hold on to. Another thing to remember, you’re human. Hell, I’ve been in the health & fitness world for almost a decade now and I still have days where I’m sitting on the couch with cheesy fingers thinking where am I?! Give yourself a little grace.
If you’re ready, I’ll share some of my tools with you now.
JOURNALING
My first experience with journaling had nothing to do with nutrition or my eating habits, instead it was for a mental release. My boyfriend’s parents got me a guided journal for Christmas last year and who knew that it’d be such a life changing gift for me. It forced me to push pause on thoughts and emotions in the real world and put them on paper instead. So often I’d sit down to journal with a pissed off attitude, thinking I can’t wait to journal about what so and so said that really set me off. It gave me a safe place to let it all out, no judgement, just me. More so, it allowed me to identify a lot of mindsets, habits, and ideas that were getting in my way,
If it works for mental health, it’s gotta work for nutrition. I sat down with a blank piece of paper and just started writing. Before I ate, I noted. During my meal, I noticed. After my meal, I learned. It was taking intentional time, slowing down enough to listen, and see what my body was really craving. I noted pains, emotions, tastes, likes and dislikes, and anything else that came up. Was I satisfied? How did I feel after? Note it all.
We often eat food because it’s an easy go-to and something we don’t really have to think about. We shop for easy and convenient because it’s what life calls for. What we don’t realize is how much this unintentional eating and grazing is affecting our overall wellness. I’m really hoping my Intentional Eating Journal helps with this, a development of more awareness around what you’re eating and most importantly, why.
IDENTIFY TRIGGERS
When I was ready to make a serious change in my life to implement better eating habits and get a grasp on my emotions when it comes to food, I needed to dig deeper than surface level.
Imagine you stop yourself mid-binge, you close your eyes, and you really take a moment to think WHY? Put yourself back into that place.
I can see myself clear as day, sitting on my couch after the kids have gone to bed. My (ex)husband working late, me annoyed again and spiraling in my head (having an addict husband wasn’t fun) about what he’s doing or where he is and how it'll affect me and my kids. Then it starts; the regret, then frustration, followed by anger, then sadness, and a little insecurity. A wave of tears coming up as I stuff them right back down, followed by that spoonful of cereal. Have I mentioned yet that cereal was my go-to binge food?
When you take a moment to strip all of that away and keep asking the question why, it’ll lead you to a source. For me, it was being alone. What about being alone that caused me to eat my feelings? Boredom? Stress? Fear?
Sit for a moment, it’ll become clear. And from there, you get to make the changes.
CREATE ROUTINE
Routine is impossible if you’re a mom, work full time, are married, go to school, have multiple jobs, volunteer… Right? Those thoughts would go through my head as I was rushing from work to the pick up line at school, making it right on time to join the tail end of the cars lined up at my kids’ elementary school. Then home, bra off, homework, laundry, dishes, dinner… followed by that evening binge when the lights dim as I catch up on my latest series. What in the hell is a routine?! Impossible.
To change your life, you need to create new ways of thinking.
A huge eye opener for me was, shocker, journaling.
Try this: tomorrow, grab a pen and paper and carry it with you all day. Rip a page out of a notebook, use the back of unopened mail, it really doesn’t matter, stop overthinking. I want you to write down everything you do in the morning from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. This is a trick to just notice.
My journaling looked like:
5:30a - alarm went off
5:38a - snoozed and up
5:43a - bathroom & ready
6:03a - wake up dogs & take potty
6:14a - feed dogs
6:17a - make lemon water drink
6:37a - walk dogs
7:03a - wake kids
7:07a - make pre-workout
Do you get the idea?
At night, it may look like:
6:28p - dinner with family
7:02p - clean up dinner/dishes
7:23p - family time/games
8:05p - kids ready for bed
8:30p - kids sleeping
8:35p - grab snack + Netflix with spouse
10:06p - bedtime
I want you to write it all down, every detail and allow yourself for one full day to become intentionally present. Your spouse may give you weird looks, but that's okay. Finish writing out the day up until the point that you go to bed. The next day, sit down and evaluate. Doing this will allow you to quickly see gaps in your day. Do they align with times you find yourself snacking? Binging? Mindlessly eating? Are you snacking when the kids are in bed? Are you watching TV and munching? NOTICE. That’s all you have to do.
Now that you’ve identified your triggers and established the gaps in your day that allow for emotional eating or boredom snacking, you know where to spend some extra time.
DEVELOP SIGNALS + CHECK IN WITH YOURSELF
You found the gaps. You’ve identified the triggers. You are well aware. Now, if only you had a mini-Raina in your home to smack that favorite binge-food of yours right out of your hands! I assume, like me, that you’ve been at a point in your life where you’ve considered paying for someone to do that.
The good news is that you have complete control over creating a mental slap out of your hand on your own.
The bad news is that you have complete control over creating a mental slap out of your hand on your own.
If you’re unsure where to start, check in with yourself by revisiting journaling. There is power in writing things out because it evokes mindfulness. Like a muscle, the more you work your mindfulness and practice that, the more your that intention to pay attention grows, and self-discipline strengthens. Habits that you develop will become stronger and stronger as you realize how good it feels to stick to what you know works for you.
When your habits are off, so is your routine, and so are your choices.
Remember, you have everything you need inside of you to to get what you want.
Happiness.
Freedom.
Peace.
It’s all there, you’re just a little distracted. xx
