Recognize the triggers
Emotional eaters sometimes have difficulties in recognizing external and internal messages. Recognizing physiological and psychological signals is a skill. It can be learned and trained just like all skills. It is very important for emotional eaters to learn how to listen and interpret these messages.
Start by becoming conscious about this fact. Start thinking why you are eating right now. Try to think if you are eating for hunger or any other reason. Figure out the triggers in the environment that make you think about food.
An excellent method of learning to recognize messages is a food diary. The purpose of a food diary is not to measure the amount and contains of food, but what kind of factors effect your eating habits. Write constantly when and what you ate.
In addition write down how you are feeling before and after food, your physical and mental mood. How do you feel after eating. Where did you eat. Try to be thorough and find repeating patterns.
Stop dieting
One of the biggest triggers of stress eating is dieting. With dieting I'm talking about significant limiting of calories, meals or foods. It is a totally normal physiological phenomenon that the body starts hormonal changes in the state of energy deficiency, where the body's mission is to stop starvation. At the point when the "regimen" ends the reloading of energy starts and most dieters gain weight. Other people are more prone to this. The smartest method is to relearn eating in a regular and even way than the changing rollercoaster of over- and undereating. If you are overweight and want to lose weight, limiting only the calories is not the answer. Probably you will gain all the weight back. Before everything you will have to eliminate the processes that maintain emotional eating. Stopping diets is one of the biggest of them.
Understand and learn from mistakes
Emotional eating is normal. It's not prohibited or punishable in any way. Often emotional eaters themselves and their social environment cause the feel of guilt from overeating. Instead of preventing this from the future it does the opposite and increases its probability. How to prevent this? First of all you need to understand that it's not that serious. And you haven't done anything wrong. Feeling merciful to yourself decreases the possibility of emotional eating and paradoxically - increases willpower. Turn your guilt to a process of learning. Think objectively - what lead you to this situation.
Understand that these situations will probably occur in the future. Give yourself a permission to do so. But at the same time try to think of ways to affect them.
