Food is fuel for the human body, and we eat it to get ourselves through the day. We also gather around the dinner table to celebrate special events and spend time with our loved ones. In times of grief, it's common to offer food to the bereaved. Is it any wonder that food and emotions are so connected?
Unfortunately, some people feel compelled to eat far past the point of satiety. This is done in an attempt to calm volatile emotions or to fill an emotional void.
The National Institute of Health estimates that 3% of Americans (over 9 million people) suffer from compulsive overeating, also known as Binge Eating Disorder. This disease can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and feelings of intense guilt and shame.
Emotional eaters tend to be guided by their emotions rather than their hunger. Some eat when they are sad, lonely, or bored. Others eat when they are stressed out.
Most are simply carrying on behaviors learned in childhood, when food was associated with comfort and reward. Emotional eating has little to do with actual hunger, and everything to do with unfulfilled needs.
If you think you or someone you love might be struggling with compulsive emotional eating, follow these steps to start the recovery process.
Recognize the signs of emotional eating.
Emotional eaters tend to eat until they are uncomfortably full, and they usually eat alone because they are self-conscious about the amount of food they are consuming. After an emotional eating binge, they might feel disgusted, guilty, or depressed about their lack of self-control.
Learn to identify your triggers.
Every emotional eating episode has a trigger. Think back to a time when you engaged in compulsive eating. Was it a reaction to a particularly stressful day? Were you consoling yourself with food to overcome loneliness or boredom? Were you relieved that a stressful period in your life had finally come to an end? All of these situations can lead to an emotional eating binge.
Discover your true needs.
It's not always an easy process, but if you want to overcome emotional eating, you must learn to recognize and ask for what you truly need. Do you need food, or do you need affection? Do you need food, or do you need to feel appreciated? When your true needs are fulfilled, the compulsion to eat will go away.
Keep a food journal.
A food journal is an excellent way to keep track of your food intake. You can also use it to track your feelings and emotional eating triggers. This will help you identify the thought processes leading up to a binge. Once you can identify these thoughts, you can take steps to change them and head off the next binge before it occurs.
Replace food with other rewards.
Learn to reward yourself with treats other than food. If you need to feel pampered after meeting a stressful deadline, celebrate with a massage or a luxurious bubble bath. If you want to celebrate after losing ten pounds, buy yourself a new outfit or something related to a favorite hobby.
There are a number of changes that you can bring in your daily life which will help you in weight loss. It is not necessary to imply all these changes at the same time. You could begin by making some changes initially and slowly, you could come back and make more changes in your daily routine. Some of the tips for best weight loss are:
1. Begin your day with a glass of water: Drink a glass of your water just as you wake up. Have your morning cup of tea after the glass of water. This will reduce the quantity of your breakfast drink and also let out all your digestive juices. It will help in the lubrication of your inside body.
2. Resort to eating fresh fruits instead of drinking fruit juice: Fresh fruits contain natural sugars. Fruit juices are sweetened and thus contain more amount of sugar, meaning, more amount of calories. Fresh fruits also provide you with a lot of fiber which is required by the body. Always go for fresh fruits instead of processed or canned fruits. This is because processed or canned fruits are not fresh and are most often sweetened. If you think you must have fruit juice, go for fresh fruit juice instead of packaged fruit juice.
3. Keep a look at what you eat: Make sure you do not eat foods that are rich in calories or foods that contain a high amount of fat. Look for foods which are low in fat, low in calories, high in proteins and low in carbohydrates. Choose your foods wisely.
4. Fix times for your meals and try and follow the schedule: Some of us eat at all odd times. We eat food when it is available to us. Try and fix the time of your meals. You can stretch the time by about half an hour but do not stretch it more as it will affect your eating pattern and result in the loss of appetite or the feeling of eating more than you can digest or what is required.
5. Limit the intake of sugar: Sugar means calories. Reduce the amount of sugar you consume. Most of us have a craving for chocolates, pastries and cakes but take it easy when you want to lose weight. Each time you eat something sweet, you are consuming a high amount of calories which is going to settle somewhere as fat in your body.
1. Begin your day with a glass of water: Drink a glass of your water just as you wake up. Have your morning cup of tea after the glass of water. This will reduce the quantity of your breakfast drink and also let out all your digestive juices. It will help in the lubrication of your inside body.
2. Resort to eating fresh fruits instead of drinking fruit juice: Fresh fruits contain natural sugars. Fruit juices are sweetened and thus contain more amount of sugar, meaning, more amount of calories. Fresh fruits also provide you with a lot of fiber which is required by the body. Always go for fresh fruits instead of processed or canned fruits. This is because processed or canned fruits are not fresh and are most often sweetened. If you think you must have fruit juice, go for fresh fruit juice instead of packaged fruit juice.
3. Keep a look at what you eat: Make sure you do not eat foods that are rich in calories or foods that contain a high amount of fat. Look for foods which are low in fat, low in calories, high in proteins and low in carbohydrates. Choose your foods wisely.
4. Fix times for your meals and try and follow the schedule: Some of us eat at all odd times. We eat food when it is available to us. Try and fix the time of your meals. You can stretch the time by about half an hour but do not stretch it more as it will affect your eating pattern and result in the loss of appetite or the feeling of eating more than you can digest or what is required.
5. Limit the intake of sugar: Sugar means calories. Reduce the amount of sugar you consume. Most of us have a craving for chocolates, pastries and cakes but take it easy when you want to lose weight. Each time you eat something sweet, you are consuming a high amount of calories which is going to settle somewhere as fat in your body.
File under :
Best Tips for Weight Loss to Try Now-
If you have a weight goal you are trying to make, tracking your progress is key. You have to know where you are if you are going to create a plan to get to where you want to be. Know your starting point, see your goal, and then create a plan to get there.
When your goal is to lose weight, more data is better than less. The more weight data you have, the easier it will be to spot trends, and to attach those trends to activities, special circumstances, etc. Tracking your weight daily, or every other day, can help you get the information you need. With that data, you will know if you are on track, or if you need to make some adjustments.
One of the reasons this is important is because your body can lose or gain a couple of pounds each day depending on your body's fluid levels. If you can see a pattern or history of minor fluctuations, then you might be able to point to it and determine that the weight you gained is most likely water weight. This is just an example, but if you have the numbers in front of you, you probably won't have to worry about it so much.
Fortunately, keeping track of your weight is simple. All you really need to do is weigh yourself on a reliable scale, and then keep a record of your weight. It's also helpful to note the date, time of day, and any other information that you consider relevant. "I ate a lot of dessert just now," or, "extra cardio the last 3 days," for example.
Whether you are trying to lose weight to slim up, or gain weight in the form of muscle mass, knowledge will help get you where you want to be. In this case, the knowledge is a frequently-updated record of your weight. Start recording your weight and you'll have the information you need to meet your goals.
When your goal is to lose weight, more data is better than less. The more weight data you have, the easier it will be to spot trends, and to attach those trends to activities, special circumstances, etc. Tracking your weight daily, or every other day, can help you get the information you need. With that data, you will know if you are on track, or if you need to make some adjustments.
One of the reasons this is important is because your body can lose or gain a couple of pounds each day depending on your body's fluid levels. If you can see a pattern or history of minor fluctuations, then you might be able to point to it and determine that the weight you gained is most likely water weight. This is just an example, but if you have the numbers in front of you, you probably won't have to worry about it so much.
Fortunately, keeping track of your weight is simple. All you really need to do is weigh yourself on a reliable scale, and then keep a record of your weight. It's also helpful to note the date, time of day, and any other information that you consider relevant. "I ate a lot of dessert just now," or, "extra cardio the last 3 days," for example.
Whether you are trying to lose weight to slim up, or gain weight in the form of muscle mass, knowledge will help get you where you want to be. In this case, the knowledge is a frequently-updated record of your weight. Start recording your weight and you'll have the information you need to meet your goals.
File under :
Manage Your Weight Daily-
