Emotional Eating Archives - Tanya Mark - Nutrition & Wellness Coach

There are three reasons why you can’t stop stress and emotional eating. And according to a recent survey by Precision Nutrition, you’re not alone.

nutritional challenges – how can I stop emotional eating

3 Reasons why you can’t stop stress and emotional eating

Awareness is key. Notice when stress, emotional eating and cravings happen. There’s often a pattern that’s triggered by certain thoughts, feelings or situations.

#1 So first, notice, do intense cravings happen when you’re restricting certain foods or calories on a “diet” or restrictive meal plan?

That’s why I find it crazy that so many of us go to them as solutions to the challenges of cravings, overeating, stress/emotional eating. Yup, often they’re the CAUSE!

Yes, read that again.

So the solution is to stop dieting and going to restrictive meal plans to improve your health and well-being. That’s why I take a non-diet, no meal plans approach – focused on improving your eating behaviors and relationship to food and your body (and your entire self-care) to help you feel and be your best self.

How can I stop emotional eating

# 2 Second, do you find yourself stress or emotional eating when you are exhausted?

Maybe you’re not sleeping well (or your list of reasons) so you find yourself in a pattern of drinking tons of coffee and/or reaching for sweets to get through another day – to give you more energy.

Nope you don’t have a problem with sweets. You’re exhausted. Let’s figure out how to get you sleeping better or whatever is causing your fatigue.

# 3 Third, consider your why?

Why do you crave crunchy potato chips every Sunday night (or every evening)? Are you feeling stressed and anxious about heading back to another day in a toxic work environment?

Again, it’s common for us to try and solve cravings or overeating by dieting or restricting that specific food — when it’s not a food problem. The challenge is coming from feeling stressed or ___(lonely, angry, sad etc.) about work or __ (whatever the cause is for you).

The solution is to recognize your triggers and then find alternate solutions – to break this unwanted pattern.

Want to gain insights into your unwanted eating habits and find deep health solutions to change them? The list of stress, emotional eating, and cravings triggers is endless and unique to you.

Complete my free self-care assessment and let’s get you scheduled for a 30-minute chat to get started.

To your happiness and health, ♡ Tanya

The High-Fact Diet

Do you ever feel burdened by the fact that you know so much about nutrition? This is what is called a “high-fact diet”.

Many of us are almost too well educated about what we eat, and this is actually creating stress in our bodies. And yes, I am speaking from personal experience. If we overthink every morsel we eat, we can be causing more harm than good.

Knowledge can nourish us. It can open our minds and make us feel empowered. But as with anything we consume, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. (Source)

Take me for example…

There are these peanut butter crackers. I love them. They’re just so delicious! BUT they have high fructose corn syrup in them. I used to eat them occasionally and really enjoyed them. However, when I learned how to read nutrition labels and learned that HFCS is “bad”, I started to avoid them altogether.

One day while I was still in nutrition school, I went on long hike in the middle of nowhere and didn’t bring enough snacks. I was, however, near a gas station where I saw my beloved peanut butter crackers. I was starving, and they were taunting me. But I got so stressed about eating a package that after devouring them, I was consumed by guilt because I knowingly ate something that wasn’t health promoting.

I believed the saying “you are what you eat” and so I believed that I was choosing to “poison” myself with HFCS. Of course, I now know that this is ridiculous. But when your mind is full of nutrition facts about how certain foods affect you, you begin to believe that you shouldn’t ever have these foods.

I can’t stress this enough – all foods can fit into a healthy diet.

We Don’t Need to be Perfect

No matter what the media or your nutritionist says (as I used to practice this way), we don’t need to be “perfect” eaters. Today, I focus on eating healthy foods for the most part – but I no longer categorize foods as either good or bad. I am more aware of how I am nourished by how I am living my whole life.

Right now, I am on vacation with my sister’s family and their three kids. I eat what I am served. Period. I am relaxed. I don’t have to cook. Instead, I focus on the joy of being around my family. I am nourished by far more than the food. Our metabolisms are fired up by more than what we eat. It’s also affected by what we think and how we feel about our food (and life).

If you missed my blog post about how your mindset affects your metabolism, you can check it out here.

Do You Have a High-Fact Diet?

So, how do you look at ______? (Insert your gas station peanut butter crackers equivalent.)
Can you eat _______ without a side of guilt or self-judgement?

Your answer to this question will tell you whether or not you’re living a high-fact “diet.”

If you are indeed way too knowledgable to approach your plate without guilt, then please – breathe. Take that weight off your shoulders.

Nutrition facts are everywhere (and my head is full of them) but we need to remember what we’re not reading on the internet and magazines, and hearing on podcasts and other media. There are many people who have less healthy food and exercise habits but somehow avoid getting diseases and live to ripe old ages. How is this possible? Our metabolisms and health are affected by far more than what we put in our mouths.

Eating healthy food is wonderful and is part of good health. But what you eat doesn’t define your whole health. Notice if you’re on a high fact diet and how it’s affecting the health of your mind and spirit.

Need some support in becoming a more relaxed, flexible healthy eater? I would love to chat!

Tanya

Category: Emotional Eating

3 Reasons why you can’t stop stress and emotional eating (and the solution)