EXACTLY how to end emotional eating
Posted by Joel Marion on September 9, 2009
Last week on our Easy Veggie Meal Plans bonus coaching call, Craig Ballantyne and I tackled a slew of listener and reader questions—truly one of the absolute best coaching sessions I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of, and some absolutely killer questions came in on all kinds of topics (even meat, believe it or not).
One question in particular caught my attention and because I believe so many people deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis, I decided to blog about the topic today.
Enter “emotional eating”.
Simply put, emotional eating can be absolutely catastrophic to any diet plan.
“And things were going SO well….”
Yes, I know the feeling.
Time to put an end to that nonsense once and for all.
When talking about emotional eating, it’s most common to find “stress” right there at the root of the problem.
We get stressed, we eat Ben & Jerry’s. It’s human nature.
BUT, it sure ain’t helping us along the path to a better, healthier body. And this is exactly where people go wrong.
Let’s face the facts, we ALL do and will continue to deal with stress on a regular basis. It’s a part of life that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But it’s how we deal with the stress that can either lead to a fitter, healthier lifestyle, or a fatter, unhappy, unhealthy one.
You see, when dealing with stress, we’ll ultimately either choose a “negative” or a “positive” way to cope with that stress.
And here’s the most important thing to realize in this whole discussion: If you do not ACTIVELY look for, plan for, and choose positive ways to cope with stress, you WILL resultantly, almost naturally, choose negative coping mechanisms (such as stuffing your face with 87 chocolate chip cookies, which by the way I have NEVER done…I cut it off around 63 because I have a little something called discipline. Sheesh).
But, the good news is that there is a ton of “positive” ways to cope with stress. Here are a few that I really enjoy, and much prefer over accumulating body fat and being even more depressed:
1. Going for a jog, long walk, or drive
I love all three of these activities because it gives me the opportunity to let me mind just zone out and think. In fact, when I go for a run when I’m stressed I find that I don’t really even realize I’m exercising because my mind is distracting me so much from the fact that I’m really “working”. It’s pretty cool when you’ve gone a mile or two without even realizing it’s been that long/far. At the same time, I’m clearing my mind and getting the “feel good” endorphins pumping throughout my cerebellum—great to relieve stress, even better for my body.
And if for whatever reason I just don’t feel up for exercising, I’ll hop in the car and go for a drive. Nothing like cruisin’ and thinking a bit to clear my mind and cope with whatever may be currently going on in my life.
2. Jammin’ out to some KILLER music
I absolutely love music. I go to concerts like it’s nobody’s business and just love how music can evoke so many different types of emotional responses.
Some tracks I’m currently enjoying “jammin’ out” to include:
1. Closer (Kings of Leon)
2. Electric Feel (MGMT) – I’ve got my buddy John Romaniello to thank for this one. “It’s like I’m on ecstacy, but I’m totally NOT”
3. Brand New Start (Alter Bridge)
4. No Cocaine (Slightly Stoopid)
5. Back Together (Citizen Cope)
6. Seeing Through You (Blue Merle)
7. Soft Skeletons (Anberlin)
8. Glass of Water (Coldplay)
9. People (Jon McLaughlin)
10. What If (SafetySuit)
And you know what’s even better? Combining music with one of the activities from #1 above.
Boo-yah, stress be gone!
Oh, and by the way, if you haven’t heard of some of the groups or tracks I listed above, check ‘em out on iTunes-guarantee you won’t be disappointed, and you just might (i.e. will) discover some amazing new bands ;)
Back to major focus at hand: do you want to seriously end emotional and binge eating habits once and for all? Then you HAVE to make a conscious effort to find and choose healthy, positive coping mechanisms.
Alright, a bunch of stuff you can do in the comments section today:
1. Have a comment about my music selection, enjoy the post, or have a general comment about today’s content? Post that baby below!
2. Share at least one “positive” activity or thing that you enjoy doing to cope with stress. I want to know what YOU do instead of downing a pint of “fish food” (and I’m sure all the ideas will be super helpful to the whole BTI community)
3. Have a cool, “feel good” music track you’d like to share with the group? I love discovering new music, and I’m sure many others do to! Share it below!
I know I’ve been kind of silent for the last week or so, but I’ve got blog content lined up for literally every single day this week.
At least 50 comments and I’ll be back tomorrow with another post, guaranteed.
Looking forward to your replies below!
Joel
Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...