Dr. Ro’s Emotional Eating Plan: How to Understand What’s Eating You

Step 3: Make a Decision

Now that you’ve analyzed your hunger and decided whether its source is emotional or physical, you can make a better choice about whether, and what, to eat. If your hunger is physical, you may be able to put it off for a while or you may realize you’re overdue for your next meal or snack, so it’s time to head for the kitchen to prepare something healthy. If your hunger is emotional, it may be harder to put off. Emotional hunger is more gnawing and persistent than physical hunger. Ignoring it sometimes works, but the “just say no” strategy doesn’t always work. Instead, try these alternatives.

Eat a substitute food.

Say you’re craving something salty, spicy, and crunchy and all you can think about is having a bag of Doritos. It’s possible that eating something else salty, spicy, and crunchy will suffice, try:

▪ A few pieces of celery sprinkled with taco seasoning.

▪ Air-popped popcorn dusted with chili powder.

▪ Mashed boiled cauliflower with low-fat  cheese, fat-free sour cream, or fat-free cream cheese (instead of mashed potatoes).

▪ For something sweet, try:

▪ A piece of fruit or an F-15 dessert, like my Banana Nice Cream.

▪ Sugar-free pudding or Jell-O cups with fruit.

▪ A baked apple topped with cinnamon and chopped walnuts

▪ Watermelon chunks sprinkled with chili powder.

Take on the full, Final-15 Challenge!

Substitute an Activity

Sometimes, an activity can fill the emotional need behind your craving. Need comfort?

Go to a park or some other lovely space, even if it’s to your bathroom for an herbal-scented, candlelit bath. Feeling isolated? Stroke your pet or read an affirming passage that inspires and builds you up. I also find that feelings of loneliness and isolation can be easily chased away by doing something good for someone else in need.

Beat Boredom and Lethargy

Try going for a run or walk instead of eating a handful of cookies. Feeling super-stressed or tense? Bring stress levels down with activities that match the intensity of your emotions. Go for a jog or power walk, dance to loud upbeat music, beat on a pillow or kickbox to release tension.  You could also try aromatherapy. One study found that sniffing jasmine aromas helped some people curtail chocolate cravings.

Play a Video Game

Cravings are visual, and according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Appetite, visual games like Tetris help distract people from food cravings by replacing visual images in their minds of food. In the study, food cravings in volunteers who played video games were reduced by 24 percent, compared to those who engaged in no visually distracting behavior.

According to researchers, the mental processes we experience as we think about food cravings can be overridden by the mental processes needed to focus on a video game. Eureka! There’s hope for the chocoholic in each of us yet!

Have Just a Nibble

Let’s face it: Some food cravings just won’t go away unless you give in. Deprivation sometimes works, but often it backfires and instead of having nothing, you binge. When that’s the case, contain the possible damage by having a small amount of the food you crave.

Scientists say that we start feeling satisfied after just three or four bites, so eat it slowly and mindfully, allowing yourself to enjoy it fully. Stop after three bites, and see how you feel.

Once you decide how to respond to your craving, grab your cravings journal and write down the choice you made. I can tell—you’re ready to make better choices already aren’t you?