Lately I have been consumed with thoughts about my weight and how to begin tackling with it. Let’s be honest here. I was never slim. In fact, I have always been curvy (but not plus sized). Sometimes I look in the mirror and I feel confident and sexy with my curves. At other times I feel ugly and fat. My mom says I am paranoid about my weight!
Anyways, I was surfing the net this morning and ran into an article that caught my attention. Have you ever wondered if you were an emotional eater? Maybe this article can help figure out if you are struggling with emotional eating.
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8 Traits Of Emotional Eaters
1. My hunger comes on suddenly – Physical hunger comes on slowly. Hunger from emotional eating often comes on quickly and suddenly.
2. I crave specific foods — generally not carrot sticks or steamed broccoli. Cravings for specific, usually unhealthy foods is a sign of emotional eating. Often people like the rush they get from satisfying their cravings. That rush is fulfilling emotional hunger.
3. My hunger feels urgent — I need a particular food right away and I’m willing to walk out of my way, or get in your car late at night, or raid my kid’s Halloween candy to get it. Physical hunger, unless you haven’t eaten for a very long time, is usually pretty patient. It will wait for food. Emotional hunger demands to be satisfied immediately.
4. My hunger is often paired with an upsetting emotion — if I backtrack a few hours or a few days I’ll usually find an upsetting event and feeling that triggered the urge. Hunger that’s connected to an upsetting emotion or situation is definitely emotional hunger. Physical hunger is not typically triggered by emotions.
5. My eating habits involve unconscious eating — all of a sudden I’m eating ice-cream and I find the whole container is gone. When you’re eating for physical reasons, you are usually mindful of what you’re doing. If you catch yourself eating “just because,” then it’s likely you’re eating for emotional reasons.
6. I don’t stop eating in response to being full — I keep wanting more of the taste of the food. Physical hunger doesn’t need to be stuffed in order to be satisfied. Emotional hunger on the other hand often demands more and more food to feel satisfied.
7. My hunger isn’t located in belly — I crave the taste of a certain food in my mouth or I can’t stop thinking of a certain food. Feeling hungry in this way is usually a sign of emotional hunger. Physical hunger is happy to get what it can, while emotional hunger usually focuses on specific tastes and textures.
8. After I satisfy my hunger, I am often filled with a sense of regret or guilt – Feeding your body what it needs is not something to feel guilty about. If you feel guilty after you eat, it’s likely because part of you knows you’re not eating just to satisfy physical hunger.
(extracts taken from the diet dotcom website)
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Funny, I never thought of myself as being an emotional eater but reading this article got me pondering. *cough*