Stop habitual eating by listening to your body’s natural signals and learn to eat only when your body needs it. We should eat only when our stomach calls for hunger but not when our tongue calls for taste.
Since eating pleases our physical needs along with our emotional needs, one can find it difficult to eat when one is “feeling” hungry or starving. Therefore, you must find other ways to get that emotional satisfaction outside of comfort food, so you can stop habitual eating for good. Your reliance on food will diminish once other positive methods of dealing with emotional issues are put in place. You’ll know when you really have to eat!
First, discover when you really need to eat. Once this has been learned, you will definitely be able to distinguish actual physiological hunger with your desires to meet emotional needs or comfort eating. Like me, I notice that I often experience hunger every three hours in general and when I start to feel that hunger I can tell it instantly! That only means I know I need to eat as soon I get the chance.
Try to listen to what your body is trying to tell you, so you are able to feel your hunger. First off you need to ask your body if it is hungry, give it chance to answer. It is easy for us to become so involved in work activities, or with family and friends, that we simply do not notice hunger until we are already ravenous. However, at this stage, you have allowed yourself to get far too hungry, and as a result, you will be more concerned with eating now, rather than eating healthily. These cravings will only lead you to consume additional calories or most of the time unnecessary calories.
Have some trigger events that will remind you consciously and instantly that it is time for you to eat. Implement this and make it a part of your daily activities until you learn how to determine the physical hunger by yourself. Some good ways are:
- Set a notice and or reminder on your laptop or computer to remind you every now and then.
- Put an alarm or an alert on your mobile phone or iPod.
- Set the alarm on your watch so you’ll always be notified in case you weren’t in front of your laptop or your phone wasn’t beside you.
Take note that there will be times that you won’t feel the hunger or need to eat. But take advantage of it and feel the difference and compare it during the times you are hungry. Slowly, you’ll determine the difference and learn the feeling of a real physical hunger and thus act on it accordingly. Carry along with you your favorite healthy foods and munch on them whenever you start to feel hungry. This ensures that what you will eat is healthy and not just any other fatty or junk foods that are available at that moment.
Through this, you’ll be more familiar with how your body feels when it is really hungry. As such, if you find yourself in the pantry or in front of the refrigerator even when you’re not really hungry try to find other things to do instead of munching those foods. Distract yourself away from the thoughts of foods. You can also ask yourself why you feel like eating at that moment. Mostly, we tend to eat to feel comforted because we are stressed, feeling down and disappointed, and even just because we are bored. Once you realized the cause of your emotional eating, try to act on it and do positive things instead. Do something productive when you feel bored or uplift yourself when you are down. Here are some more ideas that you may find helpful:
- Listening to music you enjoys
- Doing physical activities like swimming and walking
- Read your favorite novel and magazine
- Going for a soothing bath
- Talking to a friend
These activities will help you to get away from consuming another pack of extra calories and eventually learn how to stop eating. Always pamper yourself and do things that will uplift you. Focus on doing productive things instead of resorting to comfort eating.
