Emotional eating is a signal that life is out of balance. Emotional eating and overeating happen when we use food to try to help us manage our feelings. The triggers for emotional eating vary–we might eat to cope with loneliness, unhappiness, stress or boredom. Sometimes we eat for comfort or in an attempt to create a pleasant experience, when food really isn't what we crave.
Finding other avenues to meet our emotional needs and other ways to shift our moods is one of the most powerful things w… Continue
If you haven't heard yet, you will soon—it's everywhere in the media. Oprah has disclosed that she has regained weight she worked so hard to lose and that she now weighs 200lbs. My heart goes out to Oprah—as well as to the millions of women who struggle just like her. Today, on a morning news show, I watched two reporters banter back and forth about what they believe she should be doing to reach and maintain a lower weight. They discussed their certainty that slower weight loss, smaller meals, a… Continue
Added by Melissa on December 10, 2008 at 9:14am —
No Comments
One of the most powerful things we can do to maximize our effectiveness, minimize our overwhelm, and be more successful is to know when it is to our benefit to actually do less. We truly can't do it all and we will virtually never get it perfect.
Getting fixated on "fitting it all in" or not knowing when we've done enough (because we get stuck in that nonproductive idea of trying to make it perfect) can be a trap that leads to overwhelm, stress, feeling like we can't succeed, and often, resorti… Continue
Added by Melissa on December 10, 2008 at 9:05am —
No Comments
Do you turn to food when you feel stressed or overwhelmed? Does a bad day at work send you off track with your eating or exercise plan? Does an out-of-control to-do list leave you craving chocolate?
There are ways to avoid the stress eating/emotional eating trap. Here are three straightforward strategies you can try.
1. Know that you ARE a stress eater
This one sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s an important tip. If you are someone who turns to stress in response to food, it’s an important fa… Continue
Added by Melissa on December 10, 2008 at 9:01am —
No Comments
How many times have you started at diet or weight loss plan, a fresh new day of healthy eating, only to feel completely derailed by an unexpected bad day, an awful experience or strong emotions—hurt, anger, disappointment, even boredom—that seemed to magnetically pull you to the refrigerator?
We’ve been talking about that in my Coaching Club program and it inspired this post.
Ten things to do with a feeling when you DON’T KNOW what to do with it:
1. Breathe
Sit tight. Breathe in, breathe ou… Continue
Added by Melissa on December 10, 2008 at 8:57am —
No Comments
There is something I say so often that my coaching clients can probably quote it in their sleep. “When things feel out of control, focus on taking care of what you CAN control.” This is a much more effective strategy than our tendency to try to avoid or muffle what’s going on by overeating and creating an ice cream-induced coma.
There are so many things around us today that may feel out of our control and that are contributing to the stress and worry that we carry. Here (again) is my advice: “W… Continue
Added by Melissa on October 31, 2008 at 8:51am —
No Comments
How would it feel to wake up on January 1, 2009 proud that you maintained your priorities without being sucked into holiday overeating, emotional eating, overwhelm, and overload? That's the goal of my brand new program Your Holiday Health Clu… Continue
Added by Melissa on October 24, 2008 at 6:31am —
No Comments
Do you tend to gain weight as the seasons change and the days get shorter? Are you finding yourself emotionally eating or stress eating as you watch the pundits on TV deliver the latest scary news about the economy and our retirement/college savings?
'Tis the beginning of the season, in s… Continue
It’s a stressful time and it seems like we can’t turn on the TV or radio without hearing somebody whose job it is to fill the airwaves with repetitions of all the bad things that are happening or might happen in the future.
People are worried and frustrated. Many feel out of control. The… Continue
Added by Melissa on October 8, 2008 at 10:19am —
No Comments
It’s only September, and yet at my local warehouse club, the Halloween candy is displayed right next to the December holiday goodies. I’ve recently talked to two clients who want help with their emotional eating but are feeling like they need to put off taking action until “after the holi… Continue
When we consider setting goals or making changes we tend to overestimate what we can do in the short run (and create goals and expectations that are too big) and underestimate what we can accomplish in the long run. I believe that we completely underestimate the value and the power of s… Continue
As a Life Coach, I help people get where they want to go and do what they’ve always dreamed of doing.
Over and over again I’ve seen people achieve tremendous goals and create enormous change—the kind of progress that tends to make other people say, “Oh, I could never d… Continue
Here’s more evidence that it pays to be mindful of your mood—or more accurately—that it might literally cost you if you aren’t. A recent study by researchers at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh found that study participants who watched a sad movie cli… Continue
I'm often asked about how to identify whether or not emotional eating may be an issue. Emotional eating is not always easily identified. Here are some patterns that are likely to indicate that some kind of emotional eating is going on:
1. The hunger comes on suddenly and the need to e… Continue
I’ve spent a lot of time in airports lately. That means that I’ve spent a lot of time at the news stand, scanning the covers of magazines, looking for some nice relaxing reading material. In my browsing, I’ve been struck by how magazine articles emphasize making changes or starting som… Continue
So what's the significance of this story? Well, I hope it helps some who tend to get so angry with themselves when they succumb to eating under stress. No, I don't believe this study means that we can't take charge of overeating, but I think it does show that emotional eating is complex and that our appetites are driven by a number of different issues and realities. The desire to eat to cope with emotions and stress is something that should be approached wit
I posted this quote (attributed to Rose Tremain) on my bedroom wall when I was sixteen and now it lives on my website--you can find it (here).
Here’s a bit about what it means to me:
Make sure you are writing the script you wa… Continue
The term emotional eating is thrown around a lot, but not everyone understands what emotional eating really is.
Emotional eating is eating and overeating that occurs when we use food as a way to cope with a feeling, situation, or a need that is not physical hunger. Emotional eat… Continue
I saw a chiropractor for the first time last week. I have to admit, the long series of crunches, cracks and pops that echoed in my ear when he made his first "adjustment" thoroughly unnerved me. However, within seconds after that single, weird twist of my neck, I was flooded with the m… Continue
All Iowa Avenue members are invited to join Weight1Minute™ for 6 months. The cost is only a buck. Just register for the 6 month subscription, and follow the instructions. We want your feedback, your ideas, and suggestions about the site.
Bicycling!
The United States is among the nations with the highest obesity rate in the world, obesity has been a difficult issue to deal with in the social life of us Americans, and in the last decade we have really led the way in overweight pe...
Oh, I wish I could run a healthy restaurant or food store selling healthy prepared goodies... but it takes a lot of money and a lot of effort to compete with big ones!
................ :(
Good advise! Luckily, I haven't had any of those problems.
I had a healthy veggie meal with Brazilian Nut Roast en Croûte I made from scratch with potatoes, carrots, and peas on the side... and I even made my own gravy from scratch... :)
See pos...
I had a healthy Thanksgiving at home with my family. It took a big effort and long time to cook everything but it was worth it!
I made a Brazilian Nut Roast en Croûte from scratch the day before just to be sure it came out OK. Also, I made vegg...
When we consider setting goals or making changes we tend to overestimate what we can do in the short run (and create goals and expectations that are too big) and underestimate what we can accomplish in the long run. I believe that we completely underestimate the value and the power of s… Continue
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
