Tag Archive for: impulsive eating

3 Reasons to Start Journaling to Stop Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger, such as using food to cope, numb or deal with a difficult emotion, thought or feeling. It’s usually born out of an unmet need, whether physical- such as fatigue, or emotional – such as sadness or loneliness.

 

For many, food is love, comfort, reward, or a reliable friend that won’t let you down.

 

Emotional eating is not a component of biological hunger, but instead is of emotional hunger. You’re longing for something, you have a void in your life, and you are filling it with food.

 

You may know exactly why you emotionally eat, or perhaps you don’t. Journaling can help you figure it out.

 

Journaling is verbalizing your feelings by writing them down and it’s very beneficial for your emotional well-being and to discover things that might have been buried for years.

 

3 Ways Journaling Can Help with Emotional Eating:

 

  1. Journaling allows you to express and release your feelings. By writing down your emotions, the intensity of those feelings goes from your body onto the paper and diminishes in time. You acknowledge them which enables you to release them.

 

  1. Journaling allows you to slow down and insert that pause, instead of impulsively reacting. This pause makes all the difference between whether your thought leads to impulsive eating or to reflection and consideration of maybe there’s a better path to take in that moment.

 

  1. Journaling replaces food. It can be used in the moment that are you feeling distressed and about to turn to food but instead, you pull out your pen and your note pad and you journal on the following prompt: “What am I feeling right now?” Put a name to your feeling and write it down. Just let your pen do the writing, don’t stop to edit, just write what you are feeling in that very moment. By writing down your feelings, you’re becoming more mindful and aware which is the first step in managing emotional eating.

 

When you turn to the journal during these difficult moments, you break the habit of turning to food automatically to deal with your strong emotions. Instead, you are replacing it with a healthier habit by asking yourself “okay, what do I need. I’ve identified my feelings, now what do I really need to feel better”.

The answer is usually not food. It may lie in connection, self-care, the need for support, to be nurtured. Journaling can help identify the real need.

 

Grab your free copy of: 20 Day Deep Dive Emotional Eating Journaling Prompts

 

 

The Secret Sauce to End Emotional Eating

In July 2017 I had oral surgery. I had a tooth extracted, it wasn’t fun. My plan was to have an implant once it healed, which I did in May 2018. This was part 1. I knew I had to return after 4-5 months to have the implant finished. Then it’s off to the dentist for the crown.

 

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced having a tooth pulled or an implant placed, but I’ll tell you this is a very long process. And not very pleasant.

 

Last Friday I returned to the oral surgeon to finish the implant process. As she was about to inject me, I happened to say, “I’m waiting until January to have the crown done”. She stopped right as the needle was about to penetrate my gum. She told me she cannot finish the implant today if I am waiting another 2 months to have the crown taken care of. After explaining in detail the reason why, I got up to leave, feeling very disappointed.

 

I had driven all the way to the oral surgeon’s office, in traffic, which took me way too long on a Friday morning when I had a zillion other things I had to do. I psyched myself up for this visit, and now she tells me she cannot move forward.

 

I was upset, frustrated, and irritated…and you know what the oral surgeon told me to do as I was leaving her office?

 

“Bonnie, stop at the bakery and pick up a treat. You’ll feel better!”

 

Whaaattt?

 

I swiftly turned around to look at her. For a moment, I was inclined to go into a speech about how I don’t feed my emotions. But I thought the better of it and decided to smile and leave.

 

The surgeon’s immediate response to my feelings of disappointment is not uncommon for many people. Experiencing an uncomfortable emotion? Feed it. It’s easier to feed the emotion that to feel the emotion.

 

But is this in your absolute best interest? Is numbing the pain or stuffing it down with food the best way for you to take care of you?

 

No.

 

Many times, your eating response to an uncomfortable emotion can feel impulsive.

 

Let’s examine this further.

 

The definition of the word impulsive means “actions based on sudden desires rather than careful thought; based on emotional impulses; acting under stress or emotion.”

 

When acting impulsively, you are acting quickly or acting without fully examining the consequences.

 

So, for example:

  • when you impulsively grab for the cookie when you walk in from work because it was sitting on the counter

 

  • or you impulsively reach for the ice cream in the freezer after you have an argument with your partner

 

These are examples of you acting without fully examining the consequences. And it’s only after you finish the cookie(s) or the pint of chocolate fudge ice cream that you stop and wonder “why did I do that, again?”

 

Does this resonate with you?

 

Do you suddenly find yourself eating without having even thought about it first?

 

Then you feel guilty and the negative self-talk starts (“there you go again, you just can’t’ control  yourself”) and you start to criticize yourself for “not wanting IT bad enough”? And we know what IT is, right? Weight loss!

 

Impulsive eating can be an emotional roller coaster with triggers at almost every meal or time of day that can lead you to overindulge.

 

And more often than not, there is some emotional reason behind that impulsive decision to eat. It’s just that sometimes it’s not so easy for you to figure it out.

 

But, you have the power within you to identify the WHY behind your impulsive and emotional eating. You must first become aware in order to have change.

 

I’m going to show you how to start this process in my FREE 5-day challenge called ‘How to Triumph Over Emotional Eating’. This challenge will help you begin to break your pattern of emotional eating. Together we’ll find YOUR power.

 

During the 5 days, you’ll learn my “6 P’s to Success” in changing your relationship to food, so food no longer has power over you.  Each day you’ll receive an email with training and a quick assignment to complete. Then later that day we will meet in our Facebook group for a Facebook Live training to dig deeper into that day’s lesson. You’ll also be able to ask questions and get my personal help.

 

This challenge will help you triumph over emotional eating and give you the tools you need to succeed.

 

You will truly learn the secret sauce to end emotional eating!

 

As a bonus, you will have a chance to win prizes just for participating in the challenge!  You will also get access to all 5 videos after the challenge is over.

 

What are you waiting for?  Head over to http://dietfreeradiantme.com/howtotriumphchallenge and sign up today to secure your spot!

 

How Do I Stop Eating Impulsively?

To someone just hearing about intuitive eating, it sounds glorious, almost too good to be true.

 

“You mean I can eat all those foods I’ve deprived myself of all those years? And still lose weight? Where has this been all my life?”

 

So, before I delve too deeply into the topic for today (which I’ll reveal in a moment), let me be sure that I am clear about something very important regarding intuitive eating.

 

Intuitive eating is not about losing weight. It’s about changing your relationship to food, your mind and your body.

 

If someone is telling you that they will teach you intuitive eating as a way to lose weight, please run the other way. I’m not saying that some people don’t release excess weight eventually. Some do, some don’t. It’s not the point.

 

More on this topic here!

 

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, let’s address today’s topic which is impulsive eating.

 

The definition of the word impulsive means “actions based on sudden desires or inclinations rather than careful thought; actions based on emotional impulses; acting under stress of emotion.”

 

When acting impulsively, you are acting quickly or acting without fully examining the consequences.

 

So for example, when you impulsively grab for the cookie when you walk in from work because it was sitting on the counter, or you impulsively reach for the ice cream in the freezer after you have an argument with your partner. These are examples of when you act without fully examining the consequences. And it’s only after you finish the cookie(s) or the pint of chocolate fudge ice cream that you stop and wonder “why did I do that again?”

 

Does this resonate with you?

 

Do you suddenly find yourself eating without having even thought about it first?

 

Then you feel guilty for “what I have just done…again” and start to criticize yourself for “not wanting it bad enough”?

 

Impulsive eating can be an emotional roller coaster with triggers at almost every meal that can lead you to overindulge.

 

And more often than not, there is some emotional reason behind that impulsive decision to eat. It’s just that sometimes it’s not so easy for you to figure it out. But, you have the power within you to identify the WHY behind your impulsive eating. You must first become aware in order to have change.

 

I’m going to show you how to start this process in my FREE 5-Day Challenge called ‘How to Triumph Over Emotional Eating’. This challenge will help you begin to break your pattern of emotional eating. Together we’ll find YOUR power.

Register for Free HERE!

 

During the 5 days, you’ll learn my “6 P’s to Success” in changing your relationship to food, so food no longer has power over you.  Each day you’ll receive an email with training and a quick assignment to complete. Then later that day we will meet in our Facebook group for a Facebook Live training to dig deeper into that day’s lesson. You’ll also be able to can ask questions and get my personal help.

 

This challenge will help you triumph over emotional eating and give you the tools you need to succeed.

 

As a bonus, you will have a chance to win prizes just for participating in the challenge!  You will also get access to all 5 videos after the challenge is over.

 

What are you waiting for?  Head over to http://dietfreeradiantme.com/howtotriumphchallenge and sign up today to secure your spot!