Emotional eating is the consumption of food to relieve negative emotions. It can be a response to stress, anxiety, or depression. It may also occur when someone feels alone, bored, angry, or sad.
The person eats to feel better and escape from their current situation by altering their mood with sugar or fat. Emotional eating can lead to weight gain because it often leads people to eat past the point at which they are full and satisfied, leading them towards calorie-dense foods that provide short-term relief but long-term problems like obesity and diabetes.
The good news is that emotional eating can be treated through therapy sessions or other methods such as hypnosis or cognitive behavioral therapy. These treatments allow for an exploration of the thoughts behind why one is eating. The individual can then learn to express his or her emotions in a healthier way than using food. You can seek help from Best Psychiatrist in Lahore and Psychiatrist in Islamabad.
One of the most important steps in overcoming emotional eating is learning how to recognize when you are doing it.
Are you an emotional eater?
There are several different types of signals that indicate an emotional response to something.
Eat more when you’re feeling stressed
Emotional eaters may eat alone when they’re stressed or unhappy, to avoid upsetting anyone else.
Is food your go-to reaction when you’re happy?
Some emotional eaters turn to food as a reaction when something good happens. If this is the case for you, it can be helpful to find other ways of responding when something great occurs, such as taking a walk or calling up a friend.
Is eating your go-to reaction when you’re angry?
Some people choose to comfort themselves with food when they feel angry, even if it’s not the appropriate time for a meal. This is often because it makes them feel better in the short term, but the guilt that comes with this behavior can make them feel worse in the long term.
Eating when distracted
Eating while you’re preoccupied with work or other issues can cause you to eat without thinking. This is an easy way for emotional eaters to consume more calories without noticing what they are doing.
Eating out of the blue
Eating when you have not had a trigger from something outside yourself like stress, anger, or sadness can indicate an emotional connection to food in your life. Someone who eats when they feel bored might find themselves in front of the refrigerator even if they don’t realize why. Mindless eating at night
Reward yourself with food?
Do you eat as a reward for doing something good like exercising or making it through the end of the week without eating? Acknowledging and rewarding yourself is okay but using food as that reward can be part of emotional eating.
How to Stop Emotional Eating?
If you suspect that you might be an emotional eater, here are some steps you can take to end your cycle of unhealthy eating:
- Identify the triggers for when you eat emotionally.
- Take note of how you feel before and after eating in these situations. How do they differ? Do you feel guilt or shame after eating emotionally?
- Try to replace emotional eating with a healthier coping mechanism such as taking a walk, listening to music, meditating, or even just taking a deep breath and holding it for 10 seconds before exhaling very slowly.
- If you can’t seem to stop the behavior, seek the help of an expert in emotional eating such as a therapist, counselor, or doctor.
- Remember that your health is more important than comfort food! If you feel like emotional eating has become a serious addiction to you, then please do take help from the best psychiatrist in Lahore and Islamabad.
The role of psychologists
Typically, a psychologist is thought to be like another doctor who checks you up, asks a few questions, and then gives you a prescription. It’s not actually here. Whether you have mood swings, anxiety, fear, depression, anger, emotional turmoil, and personal problems related to family, financial status, relationships, you must see a psychologist for a remedy.
A psychologist is a person who can bring you back to a normal state of mind so that you can actively carry on your professional and personal life. Not only do psychologists prescribe medication to their patients, but they also make sure that it motivates them to think and act positively and in some cases arouses willpower in them. If this does not do, patients will not feel comfortable and may hide the true nature of their problem. Most of the time it is seen that a patient only talks and does minor counseling work.
In psychological problems, a patient primarily needs care and attention; If he gets it from a psychologist, half of the mental problem is already solved. Psychologists, whether they are clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, or counseling psychologists, understand that a patient does not just want a written prescription.
He wants direct or indirect motivation to overcome mental health problems.
A specialist psychologist is well aware that if he perfectly removes all the negativity, wrong habits, and numbness from his patient’s life, the patient’s recovery process will be faster and he will start to feel less in normal condition. Time
Psychologists understand that it is the human brain that is the root cause of all mental problems and its job is to manipulate the brain in such a way that it stops working on negative things and only works on positive things. Most of the time, a counselor has to play with the human brain in a highly specialized way, dealing with the brain in such a way that the patient does not even know if he involves in regular chat. A psychologist or it is ongoing actual treatment.
A good psychologist does not start treatment without making sure the patient bein expose to him about his history and background. In some cases, a psychologist may need to contact the patient’s parents and relatives to learn more about his or her behavior, habits. Nature of the psychological problem, and overall personality. This information is really helpful in treatment.
The Internet has made it easier to find psychologists in your area
All you have to do is go to any online psychologist directory and name your area; A complete list of psychologists will appear in front of you with their credentials. You can choose someone who has good experience and practice in your area.
There are many types of psychology available in your city but then how to find out? The Internet is the best tool you can get from an experienced, professional, and expert psychologist in your area. You can find the best psychiatrist in Karachi or a psychiatrist in Islamabad to discuss your problem. Find a solution to overcome it.
Find a Psychologist – Things to Consider
Psychologists are medical professionals who compose and associate with the social sciences and research. People with mental health problems go to these professionals for diagnosis and treatment. Psychologists further divide into smaller branches. Here are some things to consider when looking for the right psychologist to help you.
Trained psychologists with skill at managing their clients through a wide range of social issues such as psychological problems. Relationships, work, family, school, and so on. Dealing with everyday life for people with mental problems cannot go through it on their own. A professional psychologist has to diagnose and find a solution that works best for that client.
Find a psychologist
After a while, we ask why we call ourselves’ personal or independently practicing psychologists. So I thought I’d spend some time explaining this to the Aegean article readers:
Like doctors, you will discover different types of psychologists, work with some government agencies like the NHS. And otherwise, work individually (or both) but in order to get the title ‘Chartered Clinical’ they have to feel the same rigorous training schedule ’.
Private psychologists can sometimes find more versatility within their approach than psychologists employed in the public sector. Not that they have lost any qualifications, however. Their time is regularly limited to rigorous structured programs. However, when you are paying for a private psychologist you will probably look at your time scale. Be treated for your convenience in your environment or
Conclusion
Conclusively, emotional eating is an unhealthy way to deal with emotions, but it can treat. It is important to understand how emotional eating affects you and what triggers you to eat emotionally. By identifying these factors, you can set out to change your behaviors. Find healthier ways of coping with difficult feelings.
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