Emotional Eating: What and How to control cravings??

What is emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is now a days the most commonly seen phenomenon among individuals irrespective of their age or gender, but the question is why do we tend to eat when in stress??

The answer is “Hormones” makes us do that! When in stress we tend to crave for foods containing high carbohydrates because carbs boosts brain serotonin- feel-good hormone! The higher the level of serotonin, the more content you feel. No wonder cutting out carbs can make us grumpy. Chronic stress elevates the level of cortisol hormone, which can increase our cravings, especially for sweets & Chocolates.

Case 1: Dev is 17yrs old student, currently preparing for his college entrance exam and he always complaining about his hunger- no matter how much food he had but whenever he starts studying, he is start feeling hungry.

Case 2: Tara is 20yrs old model and she is very conscious about her figure so she is very particular about food & eating but whenever her periods are approaching, she start carving for sweets and ends up with eating a lot of chocolates & cookies.

Case 3: Joyti is 25yrs old Phd Scholar, recently she had breakup and mostly she is feeling low. whenever anxiety hits her she starts craving for chocolates & desserts. She ate 1 kgs peanut butter in a night with 7 packets of chocolate cookies.  

All these are examples of emotional eating.

Here are 15 tips to control cravings:

     

     1.  Eat good fats which help in releasing serotonin (feel-good) hormones, like- eggs, chicken, legumes, nuts.

     2.  Eat fruits like strawberries, cherry and oranges. It will reduce your craving for sugar. You can also eat yogurt once in a while.

     3.  Don’t go hungry. Keep on eating every 3-4 hours. If you are hungry, you will look for unhealthy foods.

     4.  Swings in blood sugar are the major triggers for cravings, so keep your blood sugar stable. Eliminate all the sugar, carbonated drinks and artificial sweeteners and your cravings will diminish.

     5.   Eat a nutritious protein breakfast: if you have a nutritious and filling breakfast, it will go a long way in keeping you satisfied throughout the day.

     6.   Optimizing your nutrient levels: Often cravings are because of nutritional deficiency in the body. Omega 3, magnesium, Vitamin sufficiency are very important to reducing cravings.

     7.   Eat dark chocolate, but obviously don’t overdo it.

     8.   Yes to Eat, No to Feast! : Its perfectly alright to eat something when under stress, but eating and feasting are two completely different parts of the story!

     9.   When indulging in a high carb or fatty food, the least that could be done is to control portion size!

    10.   Exercise your stress out, as exercise alone is potent enough to increase the levels of the feel good hormone!

    11.    Reduce stress and meditate: Lot of people tend to crave for sugar during stress. Avoid Stress if you want to lose weight and reduce cravings.

    12.  Surround yourself with people who support you.

    13.  Add fiber to meal or drinks, Like- Husk, basil seeds, flax seeds are a good way to add fiber to your meal/ drink and keep you full.

    14.  Eat cheat meals. These would keep you happy and satisfied. Once you know that you are allowed to binge on certain days, it would give you enough steam to last for other days.

    15.  When you have finished your meal, brush your teeth. The toothpaste will take away the food taste in your mouth.

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