WHY EMOTIONAL EATING HAPPENS & HOW TO HEAL:
After I stopped competing in fitness competitions, I fell into the habit of boredom eating, loneliness eating, & not being in tune with my actual hunger cues.
I'd eat amazingly all day, then by night I'd be finishing off multiple servings of cereal despite my body receiving a proper amount of nutrients that day. I even started to look forward to this nightly routine just because it spiked all the dopamine in my brain. Talk about self sabotage. Then, morning would come and I'd feel bloated and disappointed. Over and over, I had to tell myself "I'm not letting it happen again tonight". After a few months of detrimental behavior, I dove into research...Why is this happening? Why do we emotional eat? What can I do to stop this? And that's what I'm here to help you with. Here's what I discovered: Emotional eating happens for a few key reasons: We don't feel our feelings. We put the band-aid of food on the emotion in order to distract ourselves from discomfort. -We fall into the restrict-binge-restrict cycle. -When we perceive any kind of stress, the body craves food. This goes back millions of years to when we were cavemen just trying to survive. -We don’t trust ourselves. -We hold ourselves to ridiculous standards that aren’t aligned with our phase of life. Knowing that, I realized what I needed to do: -Sit with discomfort. It's painful for sure, but it's the only way out. When the urge to stress eat comes on, you must practice resistance. Show yourself that you can work through uncomfortable emotions without food. -Eat full, balanced meals at regular mealtimes, even if I wasn't hungry. I needed to reset my hunger cues. -When overeating happens, don't restrict. The next day just try again. Don't over-exercise, don't under-eat. -TRUST MYSELF! I needed to put myself in challenging situations so that I could prove to myself that I could do overcome this! -Talk about it! Shame grows with secrecy. Voicing our struggles can help take some of the weight off of our shoulders. Are you struggling with emotional eating right now? Is it stress, boredom, or anxiety induced? Comment below.❤️
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