The term “emotional eating” is as broad as the spectrum of emotions that bring on a binge in some people. Food can become a comfort to the depressed, a friend to the lonely, or a means of celebration. Emotional eating is said to be the cause of approximately 75% of overeating and/or binging. Emotional eating is not only an area of concern because of the weight implications, but also because of the psychological issues being suppressed by the intake of food.

The first step, as it is in any other psychological battle, is to identify the underlying emotion that prompts the binge. By keeping a journal of what you eat and why, it will become easier to identify which of the following eating triggers best applies to you:

•    Anger (on a regular, or chronic, basis)
•    Anxiety
•    Boredom
•    Depression
•    Frustration
•    Loneliness
•    Stress
•    Low self-esteem
•    Lack of interpersonal skills

Emotional eating may also be caused by habits. Picking up a pie and Coke en-route to the office becomes far preferable to making a salad for lunch before you leave home in the mornings. Often, circumstantial, or habitual, eating goes completely unnoticed by the eater. If it is your habit to have rusks or biscuits with your sweet coffee before you go to bed, you are unlikely even to consider the impact that such snacking has on your weight because that no longer counts as a meal in your mind. Habits like dipping your hand into the sweet jar or nibbling on salty snacks while watching television are fatal mistakes for fat-busters. You may also find that you eat when you are around friends because you usually meet at a coffee shop or because they are all eating.

Of course, once you have identified which of these triggers a ‘need to feed’ in you, the next step is to manage this craving. Distraction is the most common method of avoiding a response to the urge to binge. Taking a walk around the block, phoning family or friends, having a long bath, reading a magazine, doing a crossword, and so on, are all effective means of distracting yourself until the urge to eat unnecessarily passes.

If distraction does not work for you, you may find it necessary to explore more intensive means of easing the emotion that is causing you to eat. Yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises and even hypnosis or therapy may all be viable alternatives for you to try. These techniques are designed to explore the reason for your eating and to resolve the issues surrounding these reasons.

Because health and fitness needs to be a lifestyle, rather than a fad, it needs to be ingrained into your mind and life as a solid habit. Habits are formed by repetition, and made easier by gaining something positive out of it. Therefore, reward yourself at certain milestones by taking a holiday, getting a facial, or splurging on that bikini you finally fit into.