HALT! Your Emotional Eating Habits
Are you an emotional eater? I am, and I know that overeating for me, rarely has anything to do with actual hunger. Those same tips and tricks that help keep non-emotional eaters' hunger cravings at bay, can help people like us.
But, we need to have a few mental tricks in our toolbox as well.
Here's one easy method: HALT! And no, that doesn't just mean you shout at yourself as you head for the fridge (or in my case, the snack cupboard). Instead, it's a simple checklist to help you decide why you're reaching for that snack in the first place:
Are you:
Hungry?
Angry?
Lonely?
Tired?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, besides the first one, then food isn't the solution to your problem. Finding out what it is just might kick your emotional eating habits for good.
HALT is a good place to start. But, I've found that I need to add a few more emotions to the list: bored, stumped (I work from home and find myself reaching for food when I hit a roadblock), anxious, stressed, and surprisingly thirsty. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger, so sometimes a big glass of water is the simplest solution.
Discovering the source of your emotional eating is half the battle. The other half is figuring out how to fill that need with something other than food.
Here are some tips:
- Write it down. A food journal is a great place to start, but it's also smart to write down any feelings that are associated with carby or sugary snacks to pinpoint moods, or times of day, that trigger overeating.
- If the HALT! test proves you aren't really hungry, set a timer for 20 minutes and do something else: Go for a walk, put in a fitness DVD, or call a friend.
- Play hard to get - with treats that is. Keep treats at the store where they belong, and not in your house or desk. At the same time, keep healthy snacks like fresh fruits, or chopped veggies washed and at hand for when you do need a snack.
- Get regular physical activity. Studies have found that regular exercise can improve your mood. A better mood means less stress and unhappiness, which will help curb emotional eating.
Are you an emotional eater? How do you control your cravings when they hit?
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Great post! Any suggestions for people on emotional eating help is a good thing since I think it is a huge problem for many many people! I am one of them but have learned to master it for the most part & use many of the points above. When I don't, I have already thought it all thru, I understand it is emotional & I may make the choice to eat anyway but I do it knowing what I am doing & I stop without eating the whole bag or box or cupboard! :-)
ReplyH.A.L.T. - This is excellent advice. Keeping a journal is a must for over-eaters. You need to write down your emotions so you can articulate them and hopefully address them. Sometimes we are dealing with certain emotions but we can't quite figure out what they are. Writing in a journal will help with that. Also, intense exercise is great for people that are emotional eaters. Three - five times a week is ideal to gain the mood lifting benefits. You can also use exercise as a weapon when you feel a snack attack coming on - Scream H-A-L-T, and then do some jumping jacks and run in place. If the exercise doesn't help, you cracking up laughing might.
ReplyI think this is a helpful list, at least for some people. If, though, you lack the real ability to create any intervening time to think such things through, for example in the context of an eating disorder, this isn't likely to really be helpful.
ReplyI sometimes remember the poor, skinny, under-nourished starving people I've seen in developing countries. Then I imagine them mocking my fat ass and my fat ass problems.
Wow, it works everytime.
cheers,
ReplyVery helpful!! i also find myself heading for the kitchen when I am 'stumped' at work! I'm improving on the emotional eating thing, but it definitely is not easy!
ReplyI used to be such a boredom eater. I also used to snack when I was stressed out, like when I had a big project due for school or if I was studying for an exam. I ended up making a rule for myself: No snacking while studying/doing homework. I chewed gum instead and it helped alleviate my stress quite a bit...I think a big part of it was just that my mouth wanted something to "do", so chewing gum was a good substitute for eating half a bag of pretzels or Goldfish crackers.
ReplyExcellent tips! I drink a huge glass on water often and that usually makes me stop reaching for the food.
ReplyI love the 20 minutes timer rule though. I will be trying that out next time. :) My emotional eating tends to swing with hormones and tiredness. Thanks for giving me some other things to try when that happens.
Great post! Anyone who says that emotional eating isn't real has never struggled with their weight. As I was in process of losing my weight (150 lbs) I had to frequently combat the urge to eat when I wasn't hungry. What I did was use three things: Stop myself from reaching for the chocolate. Evaluate what I was really hungry for. And Wait for 15 minutes to give myself a chance to really decide if I wanted that chocolate more than I wanted to be successful at my long term weight loss goals. Thanks!
ReplyI can relate to this about emotional eating but thankfully, our family has a whole new mindset when it comes to what "snacks" really are and we rarely buy processed "junk" food. I do have a tendency to snack when I am bored and am thankful to only have healthy choices in front of me. Our son suffered from severe food allergies and Eczema which taught us a lot about food labels and misc. ingredients that none of us should really consume. He has been helped so much with his Vidazorb probiotic and now our whole family takes them! I have read lots of great info on how probiotics are being shown to help with weight management and am really thankful that we have learned so much through all of this! Thanks, Caroline
ReplyRegarding this photo that goes with the story, i think that probably keeping pictures of enticing food off this site might be a good idea as this is a diet site and these photos can be triggering to many people. thanks.
ReplyFair call. Maybe there should only be pictures of really un-enticing food.
Replyor not food at all. maybe pictures of people. this isn't a food blog. it's a diet blog.
ReplyI disagree. I think when you see a photo of a chocolate bar in a dieting context its off-putting. I feel like the photo depicts the bad thing, and I want to choose the better thing. It doesn't make me crave chocolate, it turns me off the chocolate.
ReplyAnd by the way, please give credit where credit is due. HALT is something that's been being used in the 12 step community for decades, with both AA and OA.
ReplyI have been either overweight or obese for the last thirteen years. i have lost 75 pounds before, got comfortable with my weight loss and slowly regained the weight plus thirty pounds. I have a problem of going weeks and losing weight then binge eating until i gain five or more pounds then going back on track. i also had a problem of becoming ravenously hungry at three in the afternoon every day. i have dieted so many times this time i want a lifestylechange. to attain this i am journalling,watching calories and walking. i joined this blog forsupport it helps to know i am not alone.
Reply