How to Stop Stress Eating: 5 Practical Tips

Many people indulge in stress-eating occasionally. They may have hit a bad patch in their marriage, run up against a deadline at work, or missed the train. To soothe their anxiety, they may reach for food as a temporary relief. The problem lies when stress eating becomes an ongoing habit. You find yourself eating ice cream every night after the kids go to bed to feel better about your horrible day at work with the new boss. Or you swing into the drive-thru at the local fast-food place four evenings a week before coming home to make dinner because you desperately want ten minutes to decompress.

Stress eating has become a habit, a compulsion. Unfortunately, eating this way can lead to chronic inflammation, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, and anxiety, and increase your risk for other physical and mental conditions.

Now is the time to take control.

Tips for Overcoming Stress Eating

Stress eating is a habit that becomes a compulsion because our brains recognize it as giving us temporary pleasure or relief. When our brains recognize that we are in a stressful situation, they take the path of least resistance and urge us to continue the behavior. Changing this behavior takes practice, but first, we need to recognize the thoughts and emotions behind it.

Acknowledge the behavior You need to recognize that you are engaging in stress eating behaviors and want to change this eating pattern to benefit your physical and mental well-being.

Identify your thoughts and emotions Before every action is a thought and emotion that drives the behavior. For example, you may think that your new boss dislikes you, making you feel sad and frustrated. As a result, you turn to a pint of ice cream to feel better.

Reframe your thoughts Challenge the thoughts that lead to stress eating. Is your boss short with you because he is new and feels threatened by a team of people with seniority? When you change your thoughts to “The new boss feels insecure about his new position. I will continue to work with diligence and excellence because that is my character,” you no longer feel sad but energized and confident in your abilities.

Change the behavior Instead of reaching for ice cream after a long day, recite your new reframed thoughts and feel the change in emotions, then find a new behavior. If you are hungry, grab a healthy meal. If you are not hungry, turn to a distraction until the urge to eat passes, typically anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour.

Distract Yourself from Stress Eating

The following is a list of ways to distract yourself from stress eating.

• Take a Walk
• Exercise
• Call a Friend
• Do Something with Your Hands
• Seek Help

Remember that behavior change takes time and practice. You might not stop a stress eating episode right away initially. Write down a plan of how you will stop the next one: identify the thought and emotion, reframe the thought, recognize the new emotion, and distract yourself or choose another healthy habit.

Get Started Today with Christian Counseling

Christian counseling in Mansfield, Texas is an effective method for treating compulsive stress eating. Both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) are often used for stress eating, binge eating, and other eating disorders. Contact our office today at Texas Christian Counseling, Mansfield to schedule a session with a counselor in Texas to discuss the signs and how you can stop the behavior.