Why you comfort eat and how to stop

So you arrive home late after a long stressful day at work and decide to treat yourself to a pizza. You’re bored, there’s nothing on the TV, so you eat a packet of crisps. You’re lonely, fed up or annoyed about something but you don’t reach for the apple sitting in the fruit bowl, oh no, you munch your way through a packet of biscuits instead, sound familiar?

This isn’t a problem if it happens just occasionally but what happens when our emotions start to take over our eating?

What is emotional eating?

Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe emotions (often negative), such as stress, anger, boredom, sadness or loneliness. However, emotional eating can also be linked to positive feelings too such as romance, reward and celebration.

Why is it a problem?

Emotional eating can seriously sabotage your weight loss efforts because it’s a vicious cycle – your emotions trigger you to overeat, you beat yourself up for pigging out, you feel bad, and you overeat again.

How common is it?

Research suggests that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. As a nutritionist who deals with weight loss clients every day, I’ve come to realise that identifying the psychological and emotional factors behind your eating habits really is vital in order to have lasting success.

For many people who struggle with weight, being given dietary advice is simply not enough, which is why I sought to enhance my skills as a nutritionist by completing a Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. I have found that using simple CBT coaching techniques as part of my consultation process to be extremely effective in helping my clients reach their goals. Below are 5 CBT strategies to help overcome emotional eating.

5 steps to overcome emotional eating

1) Learn how to differentiate between hunger, desire and cravings. Many of us have difficulty distinguishing between true hunger, a desire to eat and a craving. But it’s vital that you now how to differentiate between them, so here’s how:

If you haven’t eaten for hours, your stomach feels empty and is rumbling, that’s hunger.

If you’ve just eaten a full meal but you fancy having seconds, that’s a desire.

If you have a sudden and strong urge to eat something specific that’s a craving.

2) Identify your emotional triggers Keep a food and mood diary. Try writing down everything you eat & drink for a week and jot down what you were feeling before you ate it. This will help you to identify whether particular feelings, circumstances, people or events act as triggers. Try to pinpoint what it is you need and aren’t getting. It may be mental stimulation, companionship, love, or even just a hug.

3) Think before you act The next time you have a strong urge to eat something you shouldnt, take a moment to stop and acknowledge what’s going on before you act. Sometimes it helps to label the feeling i.e. ‘This feeling is just a craving, it’s strong and uncomfortable but it’s not an emergency and it will pass’. In fact, cravings reach their peak after 20 minutes at which point they lose their power and start to pass.

4) Find a distraction Do you remember a time when a natural distraction interrupted your craving and later you were glad you hadn’t eaten? Maybe a friend called or you’re child demanded attention. By the time you had finished with what you had to do, your craving had weakened and passed! Next time you experience a craving, place your focus on a distracting activity – phone a friend, go for a walk, play with your child, do a chore, write an e-mail etc. You’ll be surprised how quickly the craving will subside.

5) Challenge your own excuses We all have a number of ‘permission giving’ thoughts that allow us to justify eating the wrong foods. These thoughts often start with the phrase, ‘I know I shouldn’t eat this, but it’s ok because……’ They end with any number of excuses such as…….. ‘I’m stressed; it’s just a little piece; I’ll make up for it tomorrow, it’d be rude not to, I’m celebrating; it will go to waste; I deserve it…..’

Try coming up with some helpful responses to your own excuses, write them down and refer to them when temptation strikes. Here’s an example

Unhelpful Excuse: ‘’I deserve to have this piece of cake’

Helpful Response: “I may deserve this piece of cake but I deserve to be slim more and I can’t have it both ways.”

The longer you use these new thinking skills, the more automatic they’ll become. Like most things in life, practise makes perfect!

So how do you know if you are you an emotional eater? Take the quiz below to find out!

How often do you eat the wrong foods or overeat when……

1) You’re feeling down or browned off

a) Often                        b) Rarely

2) You’re trying to postpone doing something you don’t feel like doing

a) Often                        b) Rarely

3) You’re tired and need a pick me up

a) Often                        b) Rarely

4) You feel stressed or frustrated

a) Often                        b) Rarely

5) You’re bored and can’t think of anything better to do

a) Often                        b) Rarely

6) To reward yourself

a) Often                        b) Rarely

7) How often to you eat past the point of just feeling mildly full?

a) Often                        b) Rarely

8) How often do you experience a sudden urge for a specific food
a) Often                        b) Rarely

9) How often do you go out of your way to satisfy a particular food craving
a) Often                       b) Rarely

10) How often do you feel secretive or guilty in relation to what and how much you ate

a) Often                        b) Rarely

Mostly a’s
If you answered mostly a’s then emotional eating is an issue for you and it’s probably sabotaging your weight loss efforts. But the good news is that you can take steps to regain control over your eating habits.

Mostly b’s
Your eating patterns have little to do with emotional eating. Even if you experience occasional episodes of overeating, this is quite natural.

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Every year, without fail, a new fad diet creates a media storm and every year I put my head in my hands and wonder are we ever going to learn. Without question, 2013 has been the year of the ‘fasting diet’ and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Everyone’s still talking about ‘intermittent fasting’, but is it really the key to staying slim and living a long and healthy life?

So, what exactly is intermittent fasting (IF) I hear you ask. In simple terms, it’s a system of eating that alternates between periods of fasting and non-fasting in order to promote fat loss and boost overall health and longevity.

Variations
There are a number of different approaches to applying IF. Some involve 24 hour fasts one to two times per week (the most popular form of this is known as the 5:2 diet) while others suggest simply fasting for 14-16 hours a day which includes sleeping hours (known as daily intermittent fasting). Other forms require fasting all day and eating one, large meal at night (known as the ‘warrior diet’). Ultimately however, the goals and results of these programs are similar.

Where did it originate?
Fasting is nothing new in that it’s been an important part of religious traditions for centuries. However, the mainstream rush of interest in ‘Intermittent fasting’ began after a BBC Horizon programme called ‘Eat, Fast and Live Longer’ was broadcast last year, and since then, there has been a flurry of newspaper articles and books being published on the subjects, each one trying to put it’s own unique stamp and selling point on it.

Why bother?
Whilst intermittent fasting may be all the rage, research on the long term health effects is still in its infancy and much of the research to date has been focused on animals. As such, there is still a lot of scepticism out there amongst health professionals, my self included. As a nutritionist, I am always interested in and open to the latest scientific research and admittedly, the research on intermittent fasting thus far seems to be favourable. However, its very principle still goes against the grain of traditional healthy eating, so, the jury is still out as far as I’m concerned.

Horses for courses
However, there really is no one size fits all, no magic pill and no one answer when it comes to health and nutrition. So, it’s a matter of educating yourself, experimenting and determining the best path for your own unique needs. Below is my personal and professional opinion on what I believe to be the potential pro’s and con’s of this form of dieting to help you decide yourself.

Potential Positives
There is evidence suggesting that intermittent fasting may have beneficial effects on the health and longevity of animals (including humans) that are similar to the effects of caloric restriction. There is currently no consensus as to the degree to which this is simply due to fasting or due to an often concomitant overall decrease in calories, but, recent studies have shown support for the former.

Below is a list of potential benefits associated with intermittent fasting (bear in mind that many of these benefits have not been scientifically proven in humans):

• Increased fatty acid oxidation – which means the body burns more fat as energy, leading to fast weight loss
• Increased cell resistance which slows down the ageing process and improves immunity.
• Increased insulin sensitivity which can improve glucose metabolism and reduce diabetes risk.
• Reduced inflammation which means faster body healing, repair, and recovery.
• Reduced cancer cell proliferation rate which reduces overall cancer risk.
• Reduced cognitive decline for patients with Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease.
• Reduced incidence of heart disease

Potential Negatives

• Most people are already lacking in important nutrients and vitamins. Skipping meals could perpetuate this deficit further. With eating restricted to fewer hours a day, our window to consume many nutrient dense meals shrinks.
• Fasting can cause us to ignore our bodies’ natural communication system – Listening to your hunger cues is part of the body’s natural intelligence system that maintains health and wellbeing.
• Fasting is anti-metabolic and could harm thyroid health. Fasting stimulates the use of glycogen (stored sugar in the liver) for energy. Once glycogen stores are depleted, tissue breakdown begins. This process releases amino acids that are anti-metabolic to our thyroid.
• We already do a form of intermittent fasting every night when we go to bed and then ‘break- the- fast’ with breakfast in the morning.
• Fasting can increase stress hormones in the body – once liver glycogen is depleted, adrenaline and cortisol are released to stimulate the breakdown of tissue to provide fuel.
• Intermittent fasting (IF) is not an appropriate diet for all stages of life and certainly not suitable for teenagers, pregnant women or those with any blood sugar issues.
• Intermittent fasting places more emphasis on ‘when’ you eat as opposed to ‘what’ you eat. Any dietary regimen that leaves you feeling deprived or restricted can be a slippery slope and may well lead to overeating/unhealthy eating on ‘non fast’ days.

Bottom line is that you may very well lose weight with intermittent fasting, but, unless you seriously consider the nutritional value of the foods you are eating on your non-fasting days, I’d be willing to bet you won’t discover the holy grail of long-term health just yet.

Next year, as in every year that went before, somebody will do their very best to prove this statement wrong with a new angle or concept and most likely write a bestselling book in the process.

Hi guys, so, ever wonder what Irish celebs eat and drink to look & feel their best?
Find out all their health tricks in my ‘Celebrity Health Check’ which features in the Herald. In the links below, the Xpose’s girls expose their diet and fitness regimes!

Celebrity health check: Karen Koster, TV Presenter

Celebrity health check: Aisling O’Loughlin, TV3 Presenter

Protein is good….carbs are bad. Carbs are bad….protein is good. Low fat is good….low fat is bad. Wine is good….wine is bad. It’s no wonder many people struggle to see through the mass of conflicting advice, old wives tales and health myths out there. That’s why I’m here to do it for you! Here, I expose 10 of the most common nutrition and diet myths and reveal the truth…

Brown Sugar is healthier than white sugar
It’s often said that brown sugar is a healthier option than white sugar. But the truth is that we are simply falling for clever marketing or happily fooling ourselves. In reality, the brown sugar you’ll find in supermarkets and cafes is usually ordinary table sugar that is turned brown by the reintroduction of molasses. Because of its molasses content, brown sugar does contain minute amounts of minerals. But, unless you eat a gigantic portion of brown sugar every day (not recommended), the mineral content difference between brown and white sugar is pretty insignificant.

Your ‘5 a Day’ can come from either fruit or vegetables
Many people confuse this generalised recommendation because fruit and vegetables tend to get clumped together into the one category. Your ‘5 a Day’ should be made up of BOTH fruit and vegetables not just one or the other. Ideally, a heavier emphasis should be placed on vegetables. Clients often tell me they get their ‘5 a Day’ but when I ask them which vegetables they choose they say none which means they are missing out on all the powerful nutrients that vegetables have to offer. I must also stress that five a day is the bare minimum needed for optimal health and disease prevention.

Eggs raise cholesterol levels
Dietary cholesterol found in eggs has little to do with the amount of cholesterol in your body. Eggs contain relatively small amounts of saturated fat. One large egg contains about 1.5g of saturated fat which isn’t high. Eggs are often served with other high-fat foods such as butter, cheese, or fried with bacon and sausage which is why they are often associated with high fat. Eggs are extremely nutritious so go ahead and enjoy them, guilt-free. Boiling or poaching is best and yes, an egg a day is ok!

Coffee helps you lose weight
Yes, coffee can raise the metabolism slightly but it also depends on how you take it.
Many of us think nothing of downing a couple of lattes per day and then wonder why our weight loss efforts aren’t working. Remember the average latte contains around 200 calories, if you consume two a day that’s as many calories as you’d find in a large croissant! Also caffeine affects cravings for food particularly the sweet variety. So if you’re wondering why you are craving chocolate this afternoon, it could have something to do with that coffee you drank with lunch.

Jellies are low fat so wont cause weight gain
Fruit Jelly or Jelly sweets may be low in fat but they are packed with sugar which is one of the biggest contributors to weight gain. If you look at the ingredients list on your pack of jellies you’ll see that sugar is top of the list – remember, the ingredient listed first is present in the largest amount! The average tube of jellies contains approximately 7 teaspoons of sugar. Many jelly companies advertise themselves as healthy by making claims such as ‘Fat Free’, ‘Natural’, ‘High in fruit’ – don’t fall for it!

Red Meat is bad for your health
Most of the ill effects which are associated with red meat have more to do with the quality of the meat, quantity consumed and how it is cooked rather than just simply having red meat in your diet. Red meat is not unhealthy if it is raised naturally and if consumed in moderation. In fact, it has many benefits. It contains the most absorbable form of iron and is also high in B vitamins. Naturally raised cattle tend to be leaner and have more Omega 3 fatty acids than their antibiotic and hormone fed counterparts. When it comes to meat go for quality over quantity – organic lean red meat once or twice per week is fine but avoid processed meats altogether.

Never Snack in-between meals
On the contrary, five or six small meals are better than three big meals.
When we eat small, regular meals the body is better able to digest and to make effective use of the nutrients within the food. Even more crucially, this regular intake of calories balances our blood sugar levels, which means we have more energy and are less likely to feel moody due to sugar highs and lows. An example of a small meal might be hummus with vegetable crudités and a couple of oat cakes.

Fruit Juices are super healthy
Whilst fruit is extremely nutritious it also contains a significant amount of sugar.
This type of sugar is natural and gives us energy but if we consume too much, it can lead to energy dips and weight gain. When a fruit is juiced, the fibre and pulp are left behind during the juicing process. It’s the fibre in fruit which helps slow down the absorption of sugar and also keeps our bowel and gut healthy. So, glugging your way through a carton of fruit juice can give you a sugar hit but then a subsequent sugar crash. In general, it’s best to stick to whole fruits or else opt for juices that combine both fruit and vegetables.

We need 3 portions of dairy per day
This way of thinking comes from outdated food pyramids and guidelines supplied by dairy boards. The fact is that whilst children and teenagers may need this amount of dairy for calcium, the majority of us adults do not. Dairy products can be beneficial to health when consumed in moderation but many of us over consume dairy in this country leading to a variety of digestive, skin and sinus complaints. There are many other ways to keep our bones healthy, they include avoiding the ‘S’ words: smoking, stimulants, sugar, salt and stress which all leech calcium from the body. Good non dairy sources of calcium include tinned sardines, nuts, seeds, pulses and green leafy vegetables.

Women need 2000 calories per day
2,000 is the recommended daily amount of calories the food industry recommends for women. However, this is not to say that you should aim to eat that amount – the truth is that your body might need more or less than 2,000. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. For example a female athlete in her early 20s who is training rigorously for a marathon may need more than 2,000 calories whereas a 40 year old woman who never exercises, works at a desk all day and spends her evenings in front of the television may well need less.