Use a Diet Journal to Understand and Eliminate Emotional Eating

While dieting can be stressful, dieters often go into the process already feeling stressed about their body, relationships, work situation, and other aspects of their lives. Compulsive eating and stress eating often occur when the individual thinks that the only way they can alleviate the stress is to eat. Creativity is living an authentic life, noticing what one wants from life instead of numbing desires with excessive or emotional eating. During the day, the dieter will not only record what they ate but how they felt when eating. The individual can also record emotions they experienced when the desire to eat arose. Other tools she suggests include asking a series of questions before eating – Is this what I feel like eating? Is this what I feel like eating now? The dieter can ask if they are experiencing one of these emotions before bingeing (or during or after the binge if that is when the dieter can be more aware of their emotions). Eliminating emotional eating requires that the individual understand the emotions they experience during stress eating or compulsive eating.