People often turn to a carton of Ben and Jerry’s or other comfort foods when they are feeling sad, angry, or stressed. But emotional eating can become a significant problem for many when they self-medicate with food to help manage or overcome their emotions. Often, comfort foods are high in sugars, fats, and refined carbohydrates. As a consequence, you can easily gain weight eating high quantities of comfort foods, which can result in complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems.

Emotional Eating can be difficult to overcome and requires looking at your behaviors, moods, and your relationship to food during periods of stress.

Signs of Emotional Eating:Ny-_Medical-weight-loss

• Eating when you are not hungry
• Eating quicker than you would normally
• Eating when feeling angry, sad, anxious, or depressed
• Being secretive about eating
• Having a history of unsuccessful dieting

Alternatives to Emotional Eating:

Their are many alternatives to emotional eating, but behavior modification and lifestyle changes are needed to overcome this challenge. The NYC Weightloss Solutions offers several alternatives for emotional eating and helps prevent you from falling into the emotional eating trap. Not only will you learn healthier eating habits, but you can learn how to manage your negative emotions as well.

Exercise:  Exercise is a great alternative for emotional eating for several reasons. Not only will you be distracted from emotional eating, but it will raise your metabolism, burn calories, and increase physical health. Further, exercising when feeling distressed can help your mood. This is because the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain, which makes you feel pleasure and happiness.

Call a Friend: Catching up with a friend can help distract you from the cravings you may be experiencing associated with emotional eating. It can put you in a happier mood as you and your friend exchange stories. Be sure the person you are reaching out to is positive and supportive of your weight loss journey. Another option is to reach out to a NYC Weightloss Solutions Coach who will be a supportive and encouraging ear to listen to.

Journal: Writing is a good coping skill to develop which helps people distract their thoughts from eating by expressing their thoughts and emotions on paper. It will  help you track your moods that are triggering emotional eating as well as see the patterns that have developed.

Relaxation Techniques: Having a toolbox of relaxation methods for alternatives for emotional eating is important. These alternatives for emotional eating can be activities such as reading a book, enjoying a hot bath or shower, taking a brisk walk, getting a message, sipping a cup of hot tea, or meditating.

Accept Your Negative Feelings: It’s also important to understand and accept negative feelings. Know the feelings do not last forever and everyone goes through periods of sadness, anger, stress, or anxiety. You need to be mindful when these feelings arise and of the thoughts that accompany them. Tell yourself the feelings will not remain forever. Rely on the above alternatives for emotional eating which will help you continue your journey to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

To schedule your free consultation please click below or call The NYC Weightloss Solutions at (212) 759-8118.

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