How To Overcome Emotional Eating While On Your Gastric Band Journey!

What is Emotional Eating? It is when we consume large quantities of food - usually "comfort" or junk foods - in response to the way we are feeling, instead of us being hungry. Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by feelings which means that most of us are guilty of using food to cope with emotions.

It's not uncommon to be an emotional eater some of the time. We all have times where celebrations revolve around food; think of all the occasions we've had that involved eating over the course of our lives. Emotional eating can become problematic though if we don't recognise it and address how it may be affecting our lives.

I used to be a huge emotional eater. At the first sign of anything good, bad or indifferent I'd be reaching for (mostly) chocolate and sometimes, just anything I could get my hands on. Going through drive through was a very frequent occurrence! Having the Lap Band has helped enormously with controlling my emotional eating, but I've still had to work hard to not let things affect me like they used to and I've been able to do that by using some of the tips below.

Think about the following questions and they may help you discover if you're an emotional eater:

* Do you sometimes eat when you don't even feel like it?

* Do you hide the quantity or type of food you eat from other people because you're embarrassed?

* Do you eat during times when your emotions are high - when you feel 'good' or 'bad'?

* Do you feel ashamed or guilty after overeating?

* Do you eat when you're bored and have nothing else to do?

How do I recognise emotional hunger?

* You feel guilty when you've eaten food you know you 'shouldn't' be eating.

* You are 'hungry' in your head and mouth, not necessarily your tummy.

* You find yourself automatically eating without even realising it.

* One minute you're not even thinking about food and then the next minute all you're doing is thinking about food.

* You often crave unhealthy food like chocolate or fast food take-away. How come we never seem to crave foods like apples or broccoli?!

* You let your emotions rule your appetite.

* You just never feel satisfied no matter how much you eat.

Here are seven tips that may help you overcome emotional eating while on your Gastric Band or Lap Band journey:

* STOP - ask yourself - "Am I really hungry? Really? Are you sure?" Is there another reason why you want to grab for the bad stuff?

* Be nice to yourself - you don't need to be perfect. Give yourself a break!

* Don't clock watch. If you thinki it's time to eat just because your watch says so, if you don't feel like it - don't' eat!

* Get back to basics. Ask yourself why you had weight loss surgery in the first place and constantly refer back to those reasons.

* No-one lives in your skin but you - it's important to acknowledge that the choices and actions that you have made have gotten you to this spot in your life.

* Spend a little time during the day listening to how you speak to yourself and others. Are you blaming others for what has happened? Are you making excuses for why goals or tasks have not been met? Once you are aware of these thoughts, you can change them.

* Practice, practice, practice - the way that we change our thoughts or habits is to practice a new way! It's very important that - right now - start to take notice of your responses and thoughts and work on changing them!

It isn't a bad thing to be an emotional eater to some extent, it's sometimes hard not to be when celebrating forms such a large part of our social and family life. But when you look inside yourself and realise you're not happy with the way things are, you know it's time to make some positive changes!