subject: How To Stop Compulsive Eating [print this page] Compulsive eating may not sound like a big problem but for many people it has the potential to wreck their lives. A lot of people know what they should eat each day in order to live a healthy lifestyle but they simply fail to eat a balanced diet because they get cravings for food which then force them to eat compulsively. Most of the time the cravings are for the most unhealthiest of foods such as those covered in saturated fat or containing a high sugar content. As a result of course their weight then increases drastically and leaves them prone to all manner of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. It also reduces their confidence and self esteem.
There are many reasons why people eat compulsively. Sometimes it is because of boredom, sometimes people eat for comfort. What I can tell you is that in every case compulsive eating is done to satisfy an emotional craving. This is why weight loss plans that require willpower are always prone to failure because in the end willpower will always give in to emotional cravings.
Dieting of course is useless, because whist it may help you to lose weight in the short term, as soon as you finish the diet and go back to your previous lifestyle, you simply put the weight back on. Also you are still prone to emotional cravings whilst you are dieting. How many times have you stuck to a diet for a certain amount of time and then binged on all the wrong types of foods when the cravings have become too strong.
None of the slimming products on the market are of any use either. The vast majority of them state that they need to be used in conjunction with a healthy, balanced diet. They assume that people can follow a logical weight loss plan and their product will assist people who manage to do this. The problem is that weight loss is not logical, it is emotional and people find acting on their emotions easier than following a logical plan. So when the cravings kick in, there really is no contest.
So if diets and weight loss products are not the answer, what can be done to overcome these emotional cravings and therefore stop compulsive eating?
In many cases the cravings can be overcome by changing our mood by changing our surroundings. As an example if you are sitting watching television and you get a food craving, it is possible to deal with it by getting up and going for a walk. This then alters our mood and helps us to forget the craving. However, it is not always possible to change or environment, for example if we need to remain in a certain place in order to carry out our work.
The most successful way to overcome emotional cravings for food is to reprogram the way your mind thinks about food. Now before you start to worry, I need you to relax here and go with the idea for a moment. Im not talking about hypnosis or any psycho babble here, Im simply suggesting that you need to change the way you think about food. By doing this you will be able to change the relationship you have with food and you will be able to deal with food cravings far more effectively. And of course, by dealing with the cravings effectively, you will be more in control of your own body and are more likely to be successful in controlling your weight safely.
