As of: March 12, 2024, 3:56 p.m
By: Judith Braun
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Stress, fear, anger: stressful feelings lead to emotional eating in some people.
However, this behavior pattern can be interrupted.
According to estimates from the
AOK health magazine,
30 percent of people in Germany eat out of a feeling.
There are plenty of reasons for this: after a strenuous and stressful day at work, for example, or when they are lovesick, people who are prone to this like to grab a bar of chocolate or a bag of chips - to feel better again.
This approach is also called emotional eating.
However, especially if you want to lose weight, this could prevent you from successfully losing weight.
However, there are some tips and strategies that can help combat emotional eating.
Lose weight: Here are four strategies to avoid emotional eating
Become aware of your harmful behavior patterns if you are an emotional eater.
© Pond5 Images/IMAGO
Emotional eaters like to reach for food when they experience unpleasant feelings.
Loneliness, anger and fear are typical triggers.
As a rule, in such situations, preference is given to foods that make those affected feel well.
These are usually sweet or very high-calorie foods.
If you want to lose weight and avoid falling into the trap of emotional eating, you can use the following four strategies:
Become aware of unconscious behavior patterns
: Pay careful attention to the situations in which you resort to eating.
Ask yourself: “Am I really hungry?”, “Why am I eating right now?”, “How am I feeling at the moment?”, “What feelings am I feeling?”
By addressing these questions, over time you can become aware of your behavioral patterns and whether you are eating out of natural or emotional hunger.
A food diary can also help with this.
Deal with feelings
: In the second step, it is important to take a closer look at your emotions - the reasons for emotional eating.
For example, instead of numbing yourself with a bar of chocolate, you can write down your unpleasant emotions, process them in creative ways (such as music or painting), or talk about them with someone you trust.
These options allow you to get in touch with your feelings instead of pushing them away and repressing them.
Pay attention to body signals
: Practice paying attention to your body's signals and stop eating when you are full.
Even if the food tastes good, you should not continue eating.
This way you can gradually get a better feeling about your body.
You should consciously take time to eat, eat it slowly and avoid distractions such as electronic media.
Develop alternative mechanisms
: Once you become aware of your harmful behavior patterns, look for alternatives.
In difficult situations, these can help you not to fall back into old behavior patterns.
Develop mechanisms that work for you, such as taking a walk, doing breathing exercises, or calling a good friend.
If the craving for a snack is so great that you have to grab something edible, choose healthy alternatives as a snack.
It takes time to acquire new behaviors and routines.
Therefore, be patient with yourself.
Don't miss out: You can find everything about health in the newsletter of our partner 24vita.de.
Lose weight: Emotional eating leads to blood sugar fluctuations
According to the
Pharmacy Umschau
, obesity is a common side effect of emotional eating. Prof. Bernhard Kulzer, psychologist at the diabetes clinic in Bad Mergentheim, explains to the magazine that people with emotional eating behavior often eat too much overall.
Meals are usually unplanned and uncontrolled binge eating alternates with long breaks from eating.
This has an impact on the body and leads to large fluctuations in blood sugar.
This in turn can become a problem when treating diabetes.
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This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Our editorial team is not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.