Wellness Weekly: break the bonds of emotional eating

Emotional eating is when you eat food to cope with difficult emotions. Because emotional eating has nothing to do with hunger, it is typical to eat a lot more calories than your body needs or will use.

What you can do

• Observe yourself. Pay attention to your eating patterns and the people or events that make you want to overeat.
• Develop new coping skills. The next time you want to use food for therapy, think about how else you might deal with the feelings that triggered that urge.
• Value yourself. Getting in touch with your values and strengths can help you manage bad times without overeating.
• Eat slowly. Emotional eating often means you eat mindlessly and lose track of how much you've taken in. Make yourself slow down and pay attention to the food you are eating.
• Plan ahead. If you know a difficult or stressful time is coming up, set yourself up for healthy eating in advance.
• Make comfort food healthier. Look for ways to prepare your favorite dishes with fewer calories.

How to get help

• Talk to your health care provider.
• Contact the employee assistance program, LifeMatters, at 1-800-634-6433.
• To talk to a professional about your goals, visit the My Wellness portal to sign up for free 1:1 coaching.
• See the My Wellness website for additional emotional health resources.

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