Emotional eating is a leading cause of obesity in America. We are over-stimulated by Hollywood role models, which show unattainable goals for the rest of us. As a result, there is a strong inferiority complex when we compare ourselves to the beauty, weight, and love lives of these role models. This inferiority causes some men and women who are emotionally vulnerable to give in to emotional eating. Some experts claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating. According to one health and fitness magazine, as much as 75 percent of overeating is attributed to emotions.
Emotional eating can be caused by depression. When accompanied by exhaustion, hopelessness, and a general lack of interest in normal activities, depression may be
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Consuming a half-gallon of ice cream or entire pack of potato chips in one sitting indicates eating to eliminate boredom. Bored emotional eating differs from anxious emotional eating because the eater is unaware of the quantity of food being eaten. A bored emotional eater is often distracted by television or computer surfing.
What are the signs of an emotional eater? Here are some questions to ask: Do I usually eat when I'm worried? Upset? Frightened? Do I stand and consume whatever I'm eating, in its entirety, in the kitchen? Does eating make me feel better? Have I given up activities that I enjoy? Do I binge eat when I am upset? Is food a substitute for something that is bothering me? If you can answer "yes" to these questions, you may be indulging in emotional eating to avoid head-on confrontation with an issue.
If you are an emotional eater, you can take steps to correct this problem. Identify the triggers for your emotional eating. When do you binge? What time of day do you feel the most vulnerable? And what within that scenario makes you feel vulnerable? Do you eat in front of the television or computer? What's the pattern? Find the time and location pattern, and you are halfway to solving your