Identifying and Overcoming Eating Triggers
Identifying
Not only is food something that has been part of your life since the day that you were born, it is also something that will be a part of EVERY day of your life there after. Because of this it is very easy to see how so many of us struggle with issues revolving around food.
Many things can trigger your eating habits and patterns. A major step in changing and combating your eating habits is to become aware of and identify these triggers. Without knowing what your specific triggers are it is IMPOSSIBLE to tackle them!
The FIRST breakdown comes with distinguishing whether the urge to eat is
PHYSCOLOGICAL or PHYSIOLOGICAL.
PHYSIOLOGICAL urges are those caused by actual hunger. When this occurs your body is telling you that it is in need of refueling. There are several things you can do to determine if your urge is physiological.
* Ask yourself how hungry you really are? This can be done by rating your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being so full that the thought of food is unappealing, 5 being comfortable and neither full nor hungry, and 10 being starving, as if you have not eaten in days. Once you decide on a number, you then must decide whether to eat or not to eat. As a rule of thumb, try to always keep your hunger between 3 and 7 on this scale. Eat when your hunger level reaches a 7 and then stop when it is at a 3.
* Once the urge to eat hits you, wait 10 minutes to see if you are still hungry. Many times, urges not caused by physiological triggers will subside during that time.
* If you are having an urge to eat and nothing tastes or sounds good, try drinking some water. Thirst is commonly confused with hunger. * Remember your daily fluid intake goals are 2.7L for women and 3.7L for men
PSYCOLOGICAL urges are those associated effects of varying factors on the brain. These can vary from person to person and are often very hard to pinpoint and overcome. It has been estimated that up to 75% of overeating is associated with psychological urges.
There are two main categories of psychological urges:
External psychological triggers are those which are caused by specific environments, people, or even foods. Specific examples include: seeing food, smelling food, drinking alcohol, work or business functions, parties or other social events, vacations, holidays, outings with co-workers, nights out with friends, watching TV, etc…
Internal psychological triggers are those which occur in response to any feeling other than hunger. It is common to use food as a relief. For many it is a “perfect emotional escape” because it is east, enjoyable, immediate, and available. The emotions most often attributed to eating are: happiness, sadness, boredom, tiredness, anger, anxiety, disappointment, and loneliness. Stress is also a large contributor to this.
Overcoming
Identifying your personal eating triggers is the first and most important step to overcoming troubled eating patterns. Develop a list of emotions and/or situations that you personally feel as though you struggle with. An easy and effective way of doing this is by tracking emotions or situations with your food recalls that you place in your food journal. By doing so you are able to look back and determine why you were feeling that way and possibly how it may be able to be resolved.
Once identified triggers can either be ADAPTED or AVOIDED
ADAPT: Making better choices when given the opportunity
At first this may be difficult to do, but don’t get discouraged because many feel that in the long run this is much easier and restrictive than avoidance
Even triggers that you choose to initially avoid can later be adapted
AVOID: Eliminating the specific trigger all together.
When removing food from your identified situations, it is extremely important to realize that it must be replaced with something else. Without doing so it is easy to feel empty and deprived. As these feelings grow the likelihood that you give into them increase as does the odds that you will give into them. Things that keep your mind off of food or serve as alternative coping mechanisms for your feelings are what should be used to replace eating. Examples include: taking a walk, exercising, taking a bubble bath, meditation, breathing exercising, family activities such as games or helping kids with homework, housework/laundry, washing the car, treating yourself to a new outfit or pair of shoes, manicure/pedicure, seeing a movie, etc…
THE KEY ELEMENT TO ANY CHANGE, NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL, IS TO FIRST HAVE A PLAN!!!
With a plan you are never left feeling alone or rushed in any situation. Once all the possible “outs” for a situation have been established and analyzed, you can become CONFIDENT in your ability to handle all that is ahead of you. Even with slipups or setbacks, just remember that EVERY choice from that point forward is a chance to put yourself back on track. Use these moments to reevaluate your goals and tactics for handling your triggers. It’s ok to make changes along the way. Sometimes you don’t know how something is going to work or turn out until you try it.
Not only is food something that has been part of your life since the day that you were born, it is also something that will be a part of EVERY day of your life there after. Because of this it is very easy to see how so many of us struggle with issues revolving around food.
Many things can trigger your eating habits and patterns. A major step in changing and combating your eating habits is to become aware of and identify these triggers. Without knowing what your specific triggers are it is IMPOSSIBLE to tackle them!
The FIRST breakdown comes with distinguishing whether the urge to eat is
PHYSCOLOGICAL or PHYSIOLOGICAL.
PHYSIOLOGICAL urges are those caused by actual hunger. When this occurs your body is telling you that it is in need of refueling. There are several things you can do to determine if your urge is physiological.
* Ask yourself how hungry you really are? This can be done by rating your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being so full that the thought of food is unappealing, 5 being comfortable and neither full nor hungry, and 10 being starving, as if you have not eaten in days. Once you decide on a number, you then must decide whether to eat or not to eat. As a rule of thumb, try to always keep your hunger between 3 and 7 on this scale. Eat when your hunger level reaches a 7 and then stop when it is at a 3.
* Once the urge to eat hits you, wait 10 minutes to see if you are still hungry. Many times, urges not caused by physiological triggers will subside during that time.
* If you are having an urge to eat and nothing tastes or sounds good, try drinking some water. Thirst is commonly confused with hunger. * Remember your daily fluid intake goals are 2.7L for women and 3.7L for men
PSYCOLOGICAL urges are those associated effects of varying factors on the brain. These can vary from person to person and are often very hard to pinpoint and overcome. It has been estimated that up to 75% of overeating is associated with psychological urges.
There are two main categories of psychological urges:
External psychological triggers are those which are caused by specific environments, people, or even foods. Specific examples include: seeing food, smelling food, drinking alcohol, work or business functions, parties or other social events, vacations, holidays, outings with co-workers, nights out with friends, watching TV, etc…
Internal psychological triggers are those which occur in response to any feeling other than hunger. It is common to use food as a relief. For many it is a “perfect emotional escape” because it is east, enjoyable, immediate, and available. The emotions most often attributed to eating are: happiness, sadness, boredom, tiredness, anger, anxiety, disappointment, and loneliness. Stress is also a large contributor to this.
Overcoming
Identifying your personal eating triggers is the first and most important step to overcoming troubled eating patterns. Develop a list of emotions and/or situations that you personally feel as though you struggle with. An easy and effective way of doing this is by tracking emotions or situations with your food recalls that you place in your food journal. By doing so you are able to look back and determine why you were feeling that way and possibly how it may be able to be resolved.
Once identified triggers can either be ADAPTED or AVOIDED
ADAPT: Making better choices when given the opportunity
At first this may be difficult to do, but don’t get discouraged because many feel that in the long run this is much easier and restrictive than avoidance
Even triggers that you choose to initially avoid can later be adapted
AVOID: Eliminating the specific trigger all together.
When removing food from your identified situations, it is extremely important to realize that it must be replaced with something else. Without doing so it is easy to feel empty and deprived. As these feelings grow the likelihood that you give into them increase as does the odds that you will give into them. Things that keep your mind off of food or serve as alternative coping mechanisms for your feelings are what should be used to replace eating. Examples include: taking a walk, exercising, taking a bubble bath, meditation, breathing exercising, family activities such as games or helping kids with homework, housework/laundry, washing the car, treating yourself to a new outfit or pair of shoes, manicure/pedicure, seeing a movie, etc…
THE KEY ELEMENT TO ANY CHANGE, NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL, IS TO FIRST HAVE A PLAN!!!
With a plan you are never left feeling alone or rushed in any situation. Once all the possible “outs” for a situation have been established and analyzed, you can become CONFIDENT in your ability to handle all that is ahead of you. Even with slipups or setbacks, just remember that EVERY choice from that point forward is a chance to put yourself back on track. Use these moments to reevaluate your goals and tactics for handling your triggers. It’s ok to make changes along the way. Sometimes you don’t know how something is going to work or turn out until you try it.
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