How to stop emotional eating

I am a big believer in dieting. And I think dieting is  the best remedy thus far to ward off any potential odors coming from your body. But, I am an emotional eater and this habit clashes with any potential success I have with staying on a diet. I am pretty sure there are other people out there who feel the same way. Who really want to stick on a diet that will possibly diminish their odor. However, since they receive comfort through food it is hard to give up on their eating lifestyle because they are also giving up on their biggest stress reliever. So with that, people who depend  heavily on comfort eating will have a extremely difficult time to transition into longterm dieting. I think the best way to remedy these bad habits is to find  alternative solutions that relieve your stress or make you capable of controlling your emotional eating. You see, emotional eating is a coping mechanism that soothes negative emotions like stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness, and loneliness. There are many life stressors that trigger an emotional hunger like unemployment, financial pressures, health problems, relationship conflicts, work stress, or fatigue. But if you are anything like me the major problem is the stress you get from being around people. The disappointment you receive when people talk behind your back or mock you. This burden that we have causes greater stress which might compel us to go onto binge eating. Moreover, people who binge eat uses the food  as an distraction because focusing on comfort food  distracts you from all of your painful situations.

Learn Stress Management

Now there are positive ways to counteract these negative habits that are harming us. Some ways to control your emotional hunger is by utilizing stress management techniques.Some helpful stress management techniques include avoiding unnecessary stress, altering the situation, adapting to the stressor, accepting the things you can't change, making time for fun and relaxation, and adopting a healthier lifestyle. For more information on useful stress management techniques visit this blog

This is a great video describing ways to relieve stress

Recognize the Problem

Another helpful technique is to recognize what is causing your emotional hunger. The common causes for it have to deal with stress, repressed emotions, boredom , the  feeling of emptiness, etc. . When you are in a moment where you feel like you need some type of comfort food  to make you feel better (i.e: chocolate, pizza, ice cream, hamburgers), ask yourself what is causing me to want these types of foods. Is the desire for these foods caused by the stress I'm dealing with? the loneliness I'm experiencing? the frustration I'm having with people? Knowing the exact cause that is compelling you to become emotionally hungry and acknowledging that it is not real hunger can allow you to bypass an emotional hunger incident.

This is a thorough analysis on emotional eating

Know the Differences

Some times people can't understand the difference between emotional hunger and actual hunger. If you learn how to distinguish between the two you will be able to pry yourself from any emotional hunger situations. One way to tell if you're emotionally hungry or not is through the hunger pains. Emotional hunger is an instant urge to eat food while stressed whereas  physical hunger comes to you gradually. There are other ways to determine if your hunger is an emotional one or a physical one, I have created this chart so you can see the differences between the two hungers. By observing the chart you see the emotional hunger outcomes are on the left and the physical hunger is on the right.

Emotional Hunger v.s. Physical Hunger
The Hunger Responses
Emotional hunger is a sudden need	Physical hunger is a gradual response
The Need for Satiation
Emotional hunger needs to fulfilled immediately	Physical hunger can be postponed
The Yearning for Foods
Emotional hunger craves for comfort foods	Physical hunger can be satisfied with a variety of foods
Never Satisfied
Emotional hunger will never be satisfied even having a full stomach	Physical hunger pains cease when you are physically full
The Emotional Consequence
After indulging in emotional eating you have feelings of guilt and shame	You have no ill feelings after satiating you physical hunger

Hunger Journal

This next option has been mentioned before in another post I wrote about concerning food. In any case,  another way to cope with emotional eating is to have a journal to write in to. But in this case you should try to write  in one that is designated to your  cases of emotional hunger. Writing down what you ate, when you ate it, how much you ate, and  what were you feeling when you ate it will track down what type of food  you eat when you are in a certain mood. In addition, writing in a journal is great stress reliever and  this can reveal to you what exactly is putting you in a bad mood.

Emotional Support 

IS A MUST

Family and friends can provide emotional support if you need it. Sometimes talking with someone that can relate to you or understand your problems will be beneficial in the long run because it will alleviate any built up stress you may have. If you don't have any emotional support there are a lot of forums on the internet that you can lean on or  go to for support. Two websites that I can think of off the top of my head is curezone and breath and body odor forum . If you're anything like me, your family always states that they cannot smell you  and believe that you are exaggerating your situation. That's why it is very necessary to have close emotional friends that can relate to you or at least understand where you are coming from.

When Boredom or Stress Strikes

Boredom can be  the ultimate emotion that may lead you into binge eating whatever you want. You always hear cases of people constantly eating snacks  like potato chips or cookies  while watching television because there is nothing else to do. Or situations where  you continuously eat a carton of ice cream until you eat through the whole container without even noticing. In order to avert that, keep yourself busy by doing interesting things like watching a movie, taking a walk, playing a game, etc.  A great way to prevent yourself from boredom is to write down 10 fun things or hobbies you love to do, so when boredom strikes you can easily move into those hobbies. I can testify that playing videogames and listening to music are some of main sources of my entertainment that will drive boredom away.

Don't Tempt Yourself

Trying to get off a bad habit of emotional eating is  already burdensome. Yet, attempting to avoid comfort food when its encompassing you is even more arduous. Make it a mission to remove any temptations of comfort food from your house, work area, or any place that you visit regularly. Creating an easier environment for you to succeed will help you in the long run. In addition, if you have a strong need to eat something in between meals because you feel a little hungry. There's nothing wrong with eating a little snack, but make sure that it's a healthy snack ( ex. baby carrots, grapes, apples, celery).

Don't Beat Yourself Up

Finally,  if you do have one of those days where you are driven into temptation and you are about to eat something that you know you are going to regret later on. Try to put off  that urge for 5 minutes, and within this moment of resistance ask yourself how are you feeling and how can you you fulfill this need in a healthier way? However, if you do give in to those urges do not beat yourself up over it. Just try to recognize what caused you to slip into that habit. So then next time you can learn how to avoid that circumstance again.

References

Mayo Clinic Staff(2013) Weight Loss: Gain control of emotional eating. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MH00025

Melinda Smith(2013)Emotional Eating. Retrieved from  http://www.helpguide.org/life/emotional_eating_stress_cravings.htm

Melinda Smith M.A(2013)Stress Management.Retrieved from  http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm 

How to stay on a diet longterm

         

Diets are hard to keep, trust me  I KNOW

             Dieting is a big factor when it comes to  decreasing your body odor.  Many people have stated that they've  reduced their odor  through   a restrictive diet.  I have read many testimonials about  people  "curing" themselves from their odor condition or they would stop their odor completely after they have tried a certain diet. I'm not really speculating on if their certain diets work , but if these people really were "cured" when they stuck to a diet for that short time period.  I know diets do a play a factor because the times when I did not smell bad to people was at the time I ate  a certain type of diet. But whenever I stopped  the diet, I've noticed that I started to smell or get the same reactions like I did before. I honestly feel that a lot people who's odors are diet related cannot be cured through a few months of dieting. I feel that the odor will only come back after a short while and then they will have to start the diet over again.

         In addition, I do feel that a lot of people who did control their diet for a time, can never stay on the diet long term. According to WebMD, people  generally  only last on a diet for about six months until they regress back into their old eating lifestyle. More importantly people who have stricter diets that stray away from their normal eating patterns tend to last less than six months with their restrictive diet. This is a very important fact to note because if your odor is affected by what you eat, then that means there's a good chance that you will not be able to rid your odor. Or have a good control over your condition for good. In order to prevent your diet from failing you have to be aware  of things to avoid and implement so that  you can stay on  a diet long term. First  and foremost, we have to figure what is causing us to  lose track of our diets, and  how can we prevent it from happening. Secondly, I want to touch  on what  causes us to eat food that we know are bad for us and how we can avoid  that as well.

Tips for staying on your Diet

Tip 1: Too strict for longterm

         According to professionals  The major cause of diet failure  is having a  restrictive diet. When you start off with a diet that is very difficult to keep up with . The chances of  you  making it  a longterm habit  is low. This is really important to remember  because most of us who get into diets that are supposed to reduce our odor, are eating foods  that are unfamiliar to us. Its not the fact that eating food that is new  to you is going to regress you into failure, but it is the straying away from the common foods you eat that increases the chance of failure. A recommendation to keep your diet  on track is to  choose a diet that  has common foods you eat day to day  because the diets that last are the diets that require little change.

Tip 2: Don't live in temptation

        When we don't  change our environments like we change our diets we tend to fall off our diets.  Whenever we get into a new diet there  are always environmental factors that will make us fall into temptation. For example,  you might live with a family  and there will be a lot of troubling food that can  cause you to relapse from your diet. Or you might be hanging out with your friends at  some type of eatery , and things they order make you so envious and tempted to order the same thing. To be successful on your diet you need to create diet friendly environment at your home or workplace.  A great tip  is to try and  get support from your family and friends. To remove the temptation wherever you can, and stock your kitchen with the recommended  food you want to eat.

Tip 3: Food Journalist

         A great recommendation that can  keep you on your diet is to keep track of your diet. Experts have said that self-monitoring is the best way to to instill  the habit of keeping your diet in order. Keeping track of your progress  by writing down your weight and the food you ate can  be beneficial because  you will be able to see the improvements you have made through out your journey. Say for example, that on a particular day you smelled really bad but you did not know what was the cause of it. With your food journal  you will be able   to narrow down the foods that might cause you to smell because you will know the common foods you have eaten that never caused you to smell.

This is a great video about staying on a diet that I think people will enjoy

Tip 4: Baby Steps

         Taking baby steps while getting into your diet is an awesome way to create a long term habit. Ease yourself into  the diet little by little, by slowly bringing in  the type of foods that you need  or want to have as your ideal diet. Lets just say for example you want to have more  greens in your diet, or better yet, you want to become a complete vegetarian. Maybe you should just start off with having a salad for one  meal everyday .Then after seven days  include  a salad for  two different meals instead of one everyday. Slowly but surely keep increasing the amount of greens in your diet,   until the preferred foods you want to eat have become a part of your normal diet. Then later on  diminish the the type of food that is bad for you or that is  causing you to smell.

Tip 5: Give a little reward

        Something else you can implement to keep your diet into  longevity is to reward yourself every time you have achieved any goal that you set for your  diet. For example, lets say that your goal was to stay on a diet for a month without any cheating done.  If you have accomplished this feat, you should reward yourself with a little something . Maybe treating yourself to a movie, or shopping, or some fun activity. It can be any small reward, except food!

Tip 6: Spice things up

         Eating a continuous  diet with the same  meals throughout  the day. Can get boring, and may revert you back to your old diet. In order to prevent that you should try and change  things up by eating  food seasonally.  Meaning, you should try different foods  every season. Try different seasonings that  you can add  to your foods. Or change your normal breakfast meals to your dinner meals and vice versa.  Do anything to break out the  mundane routine.

Eating the same things day after day  is going to get boring. 

Therefore, you should strive to diversify your eating choices

Tip 7: Going on vacation has the ability to  relapse you back into your old ways 

    Vacation can steer your commitment to your diet in the wrong direction. Simply because you are on your vacation to relax from work so you feel the same way about relaxing from your diet.  The way you can prevent yourself from going back into relapse is to plan ahead on what you are going to bring on your vacation. And if you are going to indulge  in some of the  bad foods, indulge in them wisely

Tip 8:  Indulging in  social events 

         If you participate in a lot of social events like weddings, barbeques,  tailgating, or  birthday parties. And you are trying to stay on track of your diet. There is a good chance that there will be  a myriad of tempting food that can knock you off your diet goals. The best option to carry out so you won't be persuaded by the delicious, yet harmful , eatery is to eat before  you go to that social event. When you go to those social  events with a partial or extreme hunger those temptations are going to be a lot harder to sidestep and avoid.  So in order to counter act these alluring evils is to satiate your hunger before even arriving at the event. 

Tip 9: When you are stressed out

         If you are an emotional eater like me, then  when you are having a really stressful day you want to satisfy yourself with something sweet,  chocolatey, and heavy.  However, you know that by doing this in the end will create even more problems for you. Simple ways to avoid emotional eating is  to apply  stress relieving exercises like deep breathing, meditation, walking, talking to a loved one, etc.. Another option you can   do is to get more sleep. It has been stated that people who are  chronically sleep deprived tend to  feel hungrier. Therefore, getting 7-9 hours of sleep may help you out in the end

References

Kathleen M.  Zelman(2013) How to stay on a diet. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/how-to-stay-on-a-diet

Marissa Lippert()How to Keep your diet on track. Retrieved from http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/diet-weight-loss/how-to-keep-your-diet-on-track-107826

Angela Hupt(2011)How to stay on a diet to lose or maintain weight. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/articles/2011/06/06/how-to-stay-on-a-diet-to-lose-or-maintain-weight