Hunger Cues
Hunger cues are almost non-existent in adults. Especially in adults who have issues with weight and emotional eating. You have grown accustomed to NOT listening to them. You eat for emotional reasons instead of physical reasons.
Photo by Matthew Hull This is hard for most people. You may have been taught that food gave comfort in emotional situations. You may have been:
One of the many reasons I decided to face my emotional eating was because of my youngest daughter: | She was just over 12 months old. When she would fall down and get hurt she immediately asked for food. I realized that I had conditioned her to be this way. I would give her food when she was being emotional. I was re-creating all my problems with her! Needles to say, since then we have come a long way. She has slowly come around to the idea that food will not solve her woes. |
Re-Learning Hunger Cues Get back to the basics. Stop and ask yourself if you're physically hungry. The best way to do this is through journal writing. Whenever you get the urge to eat, get out some paper and honestly write down why you are eating. Not of calories and how much you eat, but what you are feeling. Keep your journal handy. When that emotional hunger strikes you'll have it. If you find yourself in a situation where you don't have your journal you can either find some paper or do it mentally. If you want to eat in response to some kind of emotion; stop and take the time to deal deal with it emotionally. If it has to with anything other than physical hunger then food will never solve it. Food will "stuff" it down temporarily, but the real problem will surface again.
Face the issue and really go for it. It's the only way to stop emotional eating. You have to be honest with yourself.Writing it down is great in helping you understand when you're eating for physical hunger and when you're eating for emotional reasons. At first you may still eat for emotional hunger, and that's okay. Do not get down on yourself about the mistakes you make. Pick yourself up and keep going. Keep track of what is going on and you will begin to see a pattern.
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