Feeding Your Feelings is a Real Thing

Emotional eating is something so many people struggle with, but it’s a subject that’s not often brought to light.
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Having a bad day at work? Under a ton of stress? Having relationship issues? Hate your body? Feeling lonely?
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Once you’re under any emotional turmoil, all of your goals tend to go by the wayside, and you use food to comfort you. Sound familiar? Everyone copes with stress and pressure in different ways. First, we have to identify our triggers. Believe it or not, a lot of it stems from our childhood.
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Personally, when I am dealing with body image issues, I tend to cope by eating. As a child, I was made fun of for being bigger, and I would eat in hiding. Your story may not be the same as mine, but it’s important to dig deep and find the root of the cause. Once you’ve found the cause, work on redirecting your stress and do something positive such as:
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1.) Meditate(Headspace is my favorite).
2.) Go for a 20 minute walk(20 minutes of walking has been proven to lower cortisol levels by 100%).
3.) Talk to someone whether it’s a trusted friend, a parent or a professional.
4.) Get the junk out of your house(We all know if you have a terrible day that pint of ice cream or that bag of chips will be gone in one sitting).
5.) Keep a journal. Writing is therapeutic, and it will help keep you on track of your triggers.
6.) Get a pet(Animals are proven to relax and comfort you).
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Using food to manage stress can create a bad relationship with food, and even worse you are more likely to develop a Binge Eating Disorder(BED). It’s easy to treat the symptom and ignore the cause. Identify the cause, then start making the necessary steps to correct it.
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Don’t be ashamed of feeding your feelings you are not alone; we are all a work in progress.