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Discomfort Food: Avoiding Emotional Eating
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: November 20, 2012
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During weight loss in Phoenix or Scottsdale, prevent overeating by controlling emotional hunger
Hunger isn’t the only thing that causes us to eat. On bad days, when responsibilities seem to pile up without reprieve, our emotions can get the better of us. When we feel anxious, depressed or even bored, it can weaken our resolve to stick with healthy habits, leading to an unfortunate bout of overeating.
As you lose weight in Phoenix or Scottsdale, you’ll learn how to change many aspects of your lifestyle. You’ll begin exercising and eating a more nutritious diet under your weight loss doctor’s supervision. Emotional eating is a common problem during weight loss, but is just one more unhealthy habit you can learn to break during your program.
Though emotional eating can make you feel helpless against your emotions, you can find ways to keep it from sabotaging your diet. Because emotional eating is often an unconscious reaction to stress or negative emotions, the first step in breaking this habit is to recognize the difference between emotional eating and genuine, physical hunger.
Emotional hunger will:
- Come on suddenly. Physical hunger develops slowly and will never take the form of a sudden craving. Emotional hunger will make you feel like you need to eat the food you crave immediately, while true hunger feels less urgent.
- Crave a particular food. When we’re truly hungry, our minds are open to possibilities; when we’re emotionally hungry, we tend to seek solace in specific unhealthy comfort foods.
- Make us eat beyond fullness. Even when we feel full, emotional hunger can cause us to keep eating.
- Make us feel guilty. You shouldn’t ever regret a healthy meal, but will likely look back on emotional eating choices with regret.
For each of us, there are certain situations that are guaranteed to set us off. One of the best ways to keep emotional hunger at bay is to recognize when it’s most likely to appear. If you notice the signs of emotional hunger above, take a minute to think about what may have been the trigger. By identifying the situations most likely to cause you to eat emotionally, you can stay careful during potentially problematic times.
When you begin feeling emotional hunger or enter a situation likely to trigger it, take control of the situation by:
- Diverting your attention. Get your mind off everything that has to do with food. Get out of the kitchen and go for a walk, read a book or call a friend. Do something productive or engaging that will take your mind completely off your cravings. You can even make a list of alternate activities and consult it any time you feel an emotional eating urge.
- Eating something healthy. Though “comfort food” has an unhealthy connotation, you can find comfort in foods that aren’t chock full of sugar and fat. Instead of junk food, try eating a healthy Medical meal replacements treat or a fresh fruit and take comfort in the fact that you had a tasty treat and are sticking to your diet.
Emotional eating is a difficult hurdle for many people who try to lose weight in Phoenix and Scottsdale, but you don’t have to give in to its temptations. Have any other strategies helped you overcome emotional hunger during weight loss? Share them in the comments below.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
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Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
