subject: Overeating - Could Anxiety Be The Cause Of Your Overeating? [print this page] Constantly overeating? Knowing full well that you are full but feeling uncomfortable and just needing to put something into your mouth? How easy it is for us to eat more than we need just to squash the anxiety that may be rising within us.
We are constantly bombarded with adverts for "Happy Meals" as if they are the answer to our problems. To make matters worse, we have never had such gargantuan amounts of cheap and tantalising food at our fingertips, as we do today; making it harder to resist temptation and easier to turn to, when we are feeling less than "happy".
Studies have shown that people with higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression are more likely to be overweight or obese due to overeating.
Here are some questions it may well be worth asking yourself,to discover whether your anxiety could be causing your overeating:
1. Why do you eat when you are not hungry? Do you feel depressed or anxious and try to run away from your feelings?
2. What is it you are really starving for? Is it affection? Acceptance?
3. Are you bored and need a creative outlet?
4. Have you lost your passion in life and need to re-acquaint yourself with your purpose?
5. Are you lonely? Do you need to find some friends?
6. Are you dealing with negative emotions or behaviours and feel you do not know how to cope?
7. Are you feeling overwhelmed and lacking the skills to deal with things?
8. Are you overeating as a habit because somebody else is doing the same in your household?
The long-lasting solution to all of these challenges in life does not lie in food; though who could blame us for wanting to avoid the feelings of powerlessness that they bring up?
The solution lies in identifying the problem and finding positive ways to meet our own needs. This will help us soothe the anxiety we are constantly experiencing and help us get our eating back into healthy balance.
Habits can be broken and there are always solutions to every problem. The first step is a willingness to admit we are overeating and then take action to help us change our lives.
This means supporting yourself emotionally by not judging yourself for your eating, but by simply understanding that you are trying to cope in the best way you know how.
Overeating cannot be eliminated without first dealing with the emotional starvation we are experiencing.
