Emotional Eating
Making Peace with Food
Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director, AllCEUs
A CE course for this presentation can be purchased at https://allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/584/c/
Objectives
~ Define emotional eating
~ Explore emotional eating in terms of its beneficial functions and rewards
~ Discuss why restrictive diets do not resolve emotional eating
What is Emotional Eating
~ Eating in response to emotions and feelings other than hunger.
~ Eating AT someone (You made me do this)
~ Eating to forget/distract
~ Eating to feel better (release serotonin and dopamine)
~ Eating out of boredom
~ Eating out of habit
~ Not all emotional eaters have an eating disorder
~ You do not have to “binge” to be an emotional eater
Why is Eating So Soothing
~ Eating as an infant often involved closeness and parental attention (oxytocin)
~ Caregiver generally happy during feeding
~ Food may be associated with sleep (night time bottle)
~ Eating as a toddler
~ Exploration and mastery
~ Power and control
~ Formation of memories around foods
~ Unhealthy foods usually reserved for treats or rewards
Soothing cont…
~ Culturally we associate eating with caring and celebration
~ Low blood sugar an cause feelings of depression/anxiety which are quelled by food
~ Evolution predisposes the human body to crave high-sugar, high-fat, high-calorie foods for quick energy and to prepare for famine
What is Behind the Craving
~ First rule out physical causes
~ Low blood sugar (anxiety, irritability, fatigue)
~ Lack of sleep (sugar and stimulants)
~ Dehydration
~ Nutritional Causes
~ High carbohydrate/starchy foods: Serotonin, endorphins
~ Chocolate: Magnesium, serotonin
~ Fatty foods: Omega-3
~ Soda: Calcium
What’s behind…
~ Then rule out habits
~ Is there a particular time or activity that makes you crave this food?
~ Are there particular times you mindLESSly eat?
~ Driving
~ Television
~ Are you going too long between meals then needing a sugar boost (which leads to a sugar crash…)
Emotional Eating Interventions
~ Mindful eating
~ Food diary
~ When eating…
~ Use a plate
~ Sit
~ Eliminate distractions
~ Focus on the food
EE Interventions cont…
~ Try to avoid setting up a binge by
~ Restricting certain foods
~ Buying a bunch of “comfort foods”
~ Going too long without eating
~ Initially distract (bath, walk, call a friend, facebook…)
~ Identify the emotions
~ If it is depression: Hopeless, helpless
~ If it is stress/anxiety/anger: Failure, Rejection, Loss of control, the unknown
General Coping
~ Develop alternate ways of coping with distress
~ Distract
~ Talk it out
~ Journal
~ Make a pro and con list
~ Focus on the positive
~ View failures as learning opportunities
~ Identify whether it is worth your energy
General Coping
~ Develop alternate ways of coping with distress
~ ABCs: A= _____ C= Emotional Reaction
~ Eliminate vulnerabilities
~ Be compassionate with yourself
~ Urge surf
~ Other tools
~ Close the kitchen
~ Brush your teeth
~ Meditate
ACT for Emotional Eating
~ What am I feeling/thinking
~ What is important to me
~ Will emotional eating get me closer to or further away from what is important to me
~ What other things could I do that would get me closer to my goals
Holiday Help
~ Choose lower calorie foods
~ Keep water or a low calorie beverage in your hand
~ Talk
~ Stay away from the buffet
~ Rehearse refusal skills
~ Pay attention to your distress meter.
~ Keep an index card with your coping mantra and two reasons you don’t want to eat.
Summary
~ Holidays bring out a lot of emotions for people
~ Some people struggle with depression, anxiety, jealousy, grief and anger during this time.
~ When constantly bombarded with high-fat, high carbohydrate foods, people are tempted to eat to feel
~ Calm
~ Happier
~ Numb
Summary
~ Emotional eating, like most other escape behaviors
~ Never addresses the underlying emotions and their causes
~ Often results in physical issues such as weight gain, poor sleep, reduced energy (sugar crash)
~ Some people try to “undo” emotional eating by restricting other calories which leads to a nutritional deficit and more cravings
~ Emotional eaters need to
~ First find a way to stop before they eat
~ Second identify the underlying reason for eating
~ Address the thoughts and emotions leading to the urges
Unlimited Counseling CEUs for $59 https://allceus.com/
Specialty Certificate tracks starting at $89 https://allceus.com/certificate-tracks/
Live Webinars $5/hour https://allceus.com/live-interactive-webinars/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CounselorToolbox Help us keep the videos free for everyone to learn by becoming a patron.
Pinterest: drsnipes
https://www.youtube.com/user/allceuseducation
Nurses, addiction and mental health counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists can earn continuing education credits (CEs) for this and other course at:
View the New Harbinger Catalog and get your 25% discount on their products by entering coupon code: 1168SNIPES at check out
AllCEUs has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6261. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC Credit are clearly identified. AllCEUs is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
AllCEUs is also approved as an education provider for NAADAC, the States of Florida and Texas Boards of Social Work and Mental Health/Professional Counseling, the California Consortium for Addiction Professionals and Professions. Our courses are accepted in most states through those approvals.