Croton Mom & Bodybuilder Asks: Are You an Emotional Eater?

Are you an emotional eater?  Food and feelings frequently go hand in hand.  It is the degree to which we tie food and feelings that needs to be explored.  I encourage you to keep a food journal for three days (and if three days seems overwhelming-just one day will help you). 

Before you sit down to eat, record in the journal your degree of hunger.  Rate your hunger on a scale of 1-5; 1 representing starving (chew your arm off starving!!) and 5 representing full (unbutton the pants full!!).  On the scale, a three would represent your body signaling hunger through hunger pangs.   Then I want you to write down what you are going to eat.  Limit details so writing doesn’t become a burden. 

An example of a food record is: B:   2 egg; toast; oj.  Then, while you are eating, record in the journal your feelings you are experiencing at that moment.  Are you feeling happy; sad; anger; neutral; bored; anxious; nervous; frightened; are you procrastinating (lots of emotions out there-tap into them).   
This exercise will allow you to enlighten yourself about a few things.  First, are you really hungry?  Taking the time to think about your degree of hunger will allow you to “be in the moment” of your body’s state. You are asking yourself, “Does my body need nourishment and energy right now?”  Secondly, writing down what you are intending to eat will allow you to realize your food choices.  Was I hungry enough to prepare a meal?  Maybe you were starving so you grabbed the first thing I could find.  Or, you may realize you grabbed the piece of chocolate because you thought it would cure the problem. 

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And finally, by recording your feelings while you are eating, you are helping yourself to realize what really is driving the meal you are consuming.  Is it that it’s around lunch time and you felt hunger pangs so now you are going to enjoy a meal, or, did you just realize you have 20 more things to accomplish in the next two hours and the anxiety you are feeling in your body can be felt from your toes to the top of your head.

As I mentioned above, food and feelings frequently go hand in hand. None of us are emotionally neutral about eating all the time.  This is normal.  We do need to be aware though when eating is primarily guided by our emotional state.  When emotions we are experiencing or emotions we wish to feel guide our eating habits, then we turn away from our body’s innate signals.  This can lead to over eating; restricting food; over dieting and other eating disorders.