Emotional eating: Causes and Solutions

1. Physical hunger VS Emotional hunger:
   

Emotional hunger vs. Physical hunger
Emotional hunger comes on suddenly	Physical hunger comes on gradually
Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly	Physical hunger can wait
Emotional hunger craves specific comfort foods	Physical hunger is open to options—lots of things sound good
Emotional hunger isn’t satisfied with a full stomach.	Physical hunger stops when you’re full
Emotional eating triggers feelings of guilt, powerlessness, and shame	Eating to satisfy physical hunger doesn’t make you feel bad about yourself

Emotional eating: Causes and Solutions 
As the name suggests, its whole purpose is to comfort the emotions. It is quite different from
regular eating in terms of intention and results. 
How to find if you are an emotional eater:
Please ask yourself the following questions! If the majority of your answers are yes, then
congratulations! You have reached the right place to educate yourself about it and find
solutions. Problems are never a problem unless you have a good attitude in life.
So here is a list:

1. Do you eat when you are bored or stressed?
2. Do you eat at a time when you are not hungry?
3. Do you feel that you are hungry often?
4. Have you noticed how your celebrations are? Have they mostly been focused on food alone?
5. Do you find the food better than the company of your friends?
6. Who is the boss? You or your favorite food? Is it food always?
   The emotional eating cycle: make the image in ppt:
   Causes of Emotional Eating: 
7. Lack of Self Awareness: In this world full of distractions, it’s been a common practice to lose
   awareness of ourselves and our bodies. Mindless eating has become easy. 
   Awareness of body and awareness of Self (mind, soul, etc.) are two entirely different areas
   that are very important in deciding our day-to-day choices. And awareness of self is even
   more important. 
   If you are a keen observer of your body, its responses, and reactions, then you are less likely
   to be deceived by comfort foods
   Similarly, if you have been living with “the Monkey Mind” then, there are high chances that
   you will become an emotional eater or serial dieter. Both of these personalities are perfect
   targets for the food industry. 
   And when we do not have a clear plan for ourselves, we become a part of some other plan. 
   So be a non-judgmental observer of your body and self. 
   Remember you are not your body! You are higher than that.
    

Lack of purpose in life: According to a research study, most people are stuck in undesirable
jobs. 
So setting priorities and finding meaning in life is very important for living a happy and
satisfying life. 
Ask why very often to find the root cause of your problems. 
Engaging in dissatisfying activities makes us crave food. And similarly, when we do things
we love, we remain calm and relaxed. These are ideal states where we reach out to foods only
if we are hungry. We make surprisingly healthier choices when we have internal peace.

1. Unable to manage stress: 
   Stress can be both positive and negative. Negative stress is very challenging. External
   situations are often not in our control but we can always choose our reactions. 
   As Stephen R Covey says, “Between stimulus and response, there is a Gap.”
   And people who react in this space fail to cope with stress. Responding to stimulus is
   Mindfulness. The mindless reaction often creates more trouble than the stimulus itself. So the
   inability to deal with stress is another cause of Mindless eating. 
    
2. Wrong relationship with food: 
   Everything has a purpose in life. The purpose behind eating should be to nourish our body
   and supply it with fuel for its normal functioning. 
   If you are reaching for food other than the above two purposes, you have built the Wrong
   relationship with food. 
   Educating yourself about your body physiology and the role of nutrients in daily functioning
   will help you build a good relationship with food. You will beat your craving without much
   effort. 
    
3. Childhood habits/ Wrong parenting: Parenting and Early childhood experiences are
   important factors in shaping our emotions and choices around food
   Parents who comfort their children with snacks n junk foods often program their children to
   become emotional eaters. 
   They learn the wrong practices of suppressing their emotions temporarily with addictive
   foods. Instead, they can learn to let go. And If you want to distract your upset child, then
   engaging him in art and craft would be a much better way than handing over a candy.
   Physical hunger VS Emotional hunger:
   Can insert a table here to explain the differences 
   https://www.helpguide.org/articles/diets/emotional-eating.htm
   Solutions:
4. Do what you love: This is a good idea to start things fresh. You can find one activity that is
   productive and which engages your mind. 
   The function of the amygdala in the brain is to give emotional responses. It helps in decision-
   making and associating events with emotions like fear or pleasure.
   And there is a surprising fact that when we engage the brain in any other rewarding activity
   like play or art or reading, it becomes satisfied and stops craving foods. So we can engage in
   any such activity. And the cravings will automatically subside. 
    
5. Love what you do: 
   Finding meaning and ways to make your daily job more purposeful and engaging is great to
   fall in love with your job. Start loving your job. Find reasons to do so. 
   People who love what they do often become highly successful and live a happy and satisfying
   life which is very important to beat emotional eating patterns.

1. Food and Mood Journal:  Writing a food journal is a research-proven technique to reverse
   emotional eating. This technique helps us build bring self-awareness. Unless we observe the
   problem, we can never get to the solution. 
    Are you struggling with obesity? Then I highly recommend you to log your food intake just
   for three days. You will be shocked to see how much n how often you eat. And trust me, this
   positive stress will empower you to take actions that you have been delaying for ages. 
    
2. The 10-minute rule for Cravings: According to relapse specialist Alan Marlatt, cravings a
   nothing more than a wave of emotion. The Cravings come and go like waves. And if we only
   wait for the peak to pass, we will realize that we have no cravings. It looks impossible to
   believe it. Initially, you might find it very hard to implement. But once you experience you
   will be surprised to know that their intensity goes away within 10-15 minutes. So, delay
   eating for 10 minutes and see the magic happen. 
3. Train the Subconscious mind: Invest your time and energies in learning about the
   Subconscious mind and its impact on our day-to-day choices. A majority of our decisions are
   on autopilot/ subconscious min. If we ignore the pattern of this decision-maker, we will
   never be able to break your old destructive behavior patterns. 
    
   The author Faiz H Seyal says Behavior is everything .quote him appropriately here
    
4. Reading Habit: Food and exercise are essential for the health of our physical body. Similarly,
   reading and writing are necessary for our mental and spiritual health. 
   Health is a very holistic concept. True healing is incomplete without addressing spiritual
   diseases. 
   Reading good books from Religion and Self-help genres will help you nourish your soul. A
   strong soul is the real driver of a healthy body. The needs of the soul are of a higher degree
   than the needs of the body. 
   The Fitness industry works hard in creating supplements to heal the nutritional deficiencies of
   the physical body. It is no doubt important too. But no product or material can satisfy the
   needs of our souls.
   Empathetic living, sharing, helping people, and helping the lower section of society will
   empower our souls and give us bigger and better reasons to take care of ourselves and our
   societies. 
    
5. Change company:
   There is a famous Hadith of RasoolAllah (saw): “You are your company”
   Therefore if you don’t choose your friends wisely then it will sometimes become impossible
   to break your emotional eating habits. 
    
6.  Visit hospitals: The author Faiz H Seyal often suggests that we must visit the hospitals often.
   These are places that will help us come of the deception we are living in. It will give us an
   idea of the results of bad health. We will ask ourselves the question Why? 
   Ask yourselves:
   Am I ready to live a life of self-created sufferings and pain? Do I want to become a burden on
   our loved ones and government?
   Definitely no! So this hospital visiting experience will InshaAllah bring a lasting and
   powerful change in our daily choices. 

I hope this article helps you in breaking your emotional eating habits. I also pray that you find
a purpose in life and live it to its fullest.
“Live Full Die Empty!”