Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Stressed Out? Tricks to Avoid Emotional Eating

By Tina Haupert from Health.com



A few years ago, I worked in a 9-5 desk job in an office where the kitchen was a ever-present buffet of donuts, muffins, cookies, and other larger-than-life pastries. I honestly can’t remember too many days when there wasn’t some sort of sweet treat tempting me to eat it. I often fell victim to those goodies when my stress levels rose, and instead of dealing with what was actually stressing me out, I temporarily masked my feelings with the treats. For a long time, I didn’t recognize this pattern was happening—until it led me to gain several pounds.
Even now when I feel stressed, I still crave sugary carbs, which are loaded with calories and fat and not helpful when it comes to maintaining my Feel Great Weight. It’s not always easy to overcome those emotions, but these tricks have certainly helped me (and will help you!) get a handle on stress eating.
Know your triggers. When I felt overwhelmed by a monstrous to-do list or frustrated by a difficult project, I’d often find myself turning to sugary treats for comfort, but learning my motives was key for controlling those cravings. Once I was more conscious of these triggers, I started to change my eating patterns.  Get the other triggers.  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers