Emotional Eating

Lately I have been having issues trying to curb my emotional eating. We have a lot of personal things going on and some big family decisions to make within the next month. We also have all the normal things that occur in a day. Instead of turning to the throne lately I've been wanting to turn to the ice cream, buffalo chicken dip, or chocolate. I'm struggling with eating because I'm emotional. Anyone else ever been there?

I know that I shouldn't even get myself on this cycle.

I keep this image in mind when I want to eat the ice cream or chocolate. I keep telling myself that if I eat it I will feel guilty. I know that I don't actually need it. I know that it will just head straight to my hips and then I'll be even more upset when my favorite pair of jeans that I just got back in to after being pregnant don't fit again.

My favorite acronym that I learned while doing Made to Crave through Proverbs 31 ministries was HALT. HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Am I eating because I am hungry, angry, lonely or tired?  This is always a good check for me if I am eating for the right reasons. If I'm eating for anything besides I am trully hungry then I should just drink water and walk away from whatever I was thinking of consuming.

But I also need to make sure I'm not letting myself get too hungry! I need to make sure I am eating every 2-3 hours during the day. I need to make sure I am fueling my body properly. I also need to make sure the hunger feeling my body is feeling actually isn't dehydration. Have I drank enough water today?

I love this graphic that tells about why we emotional eat.

Have you ever reached for food for any of these reasons? I know I have!  My favorite is number 11. I used to eat even though I was full. I was taught to finish everything on my plate. Therefore I would finish my plate and then finish the girls plates. Next thing I knew I had consumed many more calories. Now that I know portion sizes better I hardly ever have food left on the plates.

So what are some strategies we can use so we don't eat because we are emotional. I love this graphic that describes some things we can do:

I also like the main purpose of the book "Made To Crave". Every time you want to eat something for some reason other than you are truly hungry you are supposed to pray. What if we took all our problems to God instead of eating to "fix" them?

I hoping to do better today on my emotional eating. I've done good the last few days but last week wasn't as good as I'd have wanted it to be. I'm a work in progress and I know I need to pay attention to this especially. I hope everyone has a blessed day.