<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd'>; <html><head><title>Article Directory Online : Free Online Article Submission - Articleonlinedirectory | How To End Emotional Eating</title></head><body><h3>How To End Emotional Eating</h3><br /><br />By: <br /><br /><p>Emotional eating is one of the top reasons people have trouble losing weight.<br /> <br /> Emotional eating affects most everyone to different degrees. For some of us it is something that comes occasionally and for others it rules our day. Giving way from good intentions to overwhelming urges to eat. The good news is the emotional eating is a learned behavior so no matter how out of control we may feel right now when it comes to food, we have the ability to unlearn it. It takes a little time and effort but the pay off is huge.<br /> <br /> Once you understand and engage the process it becomes easier and easier each time. So let's talk about how we start to overcome emotional eating.<br /> <br /> The first step is to start to observe your eating patterns. When you first start doing this it can be difficult because you often find that your emotions and thoughts are triggering your "need" or want for food.<br /> <br /> Why? Well, because you really don't want to observe those feelings, you really want to avoid them. That's why you have been heading to the nearest fast food joint when something triggers you. You crave certain foods when these feelings, emotions and stresses occur because they effect your pleasure center in your brain and is an distraction solution to what you are trying to avoid. It could be as simple as a comment from a stranger or the stress of your morning routine that triggers your emotional eating reaction.<br /> <br /> Taking the time to start journaling when, what and why you are eating can really be instrumental to turning the emotional hunger switch off. If you can start to observe yourself you can then start to work on new behaviors to put these in place instead of eating. When you start to resist the food and start to replace the activity with a new one your brain will start to process the information differently and instead of calming yourself with food it will start to substitute in the other behavior using it to give your body the time to calm itself without the use of food.<br /> <br /> This can take some effort and some patience. If you continue to eat even after you observe the feelings that are coming up, it's OK., so don't beat yourself up. Just observe yourself and what you are feeling. Keep the journal for the first week or two and start to get a picture of when and what is triggering you. Next, think of some other healthier behaviors you can substitute for eating. Like call a friend, take a nap, reading a fitness magazine, go outside for some fresh air, you get the picture. Just pick things you enjoy and will give your body and mind something to do other than eat. Your goal is to disrupt the learned habit of eating for distraction and engaging the pleasure center in the brain with food. After about a week of observing start to sneak in some healthier substitutes instead of food.<br /> <br /> Action Step: Start to observe, what you eat and when you eat in your journal. If you know what is pushing you towards food then write it down, but if you don't that's OK. Sometimes things aren't as transparent as we think and it may take hours or even days before we figure out what was bothering us.<br /> <br /> For now just write down what you observe. Make a list of things you can do that would make you feel better that is unrelated to food.<br /> <br /> Think of some things you can do. When I did this exercise I found that I usually was anxious about something and also tired. I thought if I could just lay down for ten or fifteen minutes it would help. I would never give myself permission to do that so instead I ate. Once I did give myself permission I found that I was able to calm down and re-energize in a way that did not include food. It worked almost immediately.<br /> <br /> I found the first day I tried this I went to lay down or sat quietly 3 or 4 tomes throughout the day for 10 minutes. I did some deep breathing as well. I never would have thought it would have worked so well but it did.<br /> <br /> I did research and I found that this method was in line with how our brain works and how our body responds to stress. So keep and open mind and just start with these 2 actions steps. Remember don't expect perfection just start a small, slight shift and look for small progress. Soon you will be able to resist these urges and feel great about doing it.</p> <br /><br /><b>Author Resource:-></b> Download your <a href=http://tinyurl.com/2ccckqs>Free Weight Loss Journal </a> and your free MP3 download for <a href=http://tinyurl.com/27b6cqg> 6 Must Take Steps to Weight Loss Success.</a><br /><br /><b>Article From</b> <a href='http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com/'>Article Directory Online : Free Online Article Submission - Articleonlinedirectory</a><br /></body></html>
