The Stress Eating Solution You Haven’t Tried

More than 60 percent of my incoming clients say they struggle with emotional or stress eating. 

They feel stuck in a maddening, confusing cycle—because it can feel as if they’re continually drawn to their stash of Girl Scout cookies through forces outside of their control. 

(Hey, at least it’s for a good cause.)

In reality, the path from “stress” to “cookies” often contains several individual steps, as the graphic below shows.

The problem: Most people go from step #1 to step #8 so quickly that they’re not aware of all the steps in between. 

To help you uncover the real triggers that lead to stress eating, you’ll need to do some detective work.

This experiment can help.

Fair warning: What I'm about to suggest is counterintuitive, even uncomfortable.  

Yet it builds the awareness people need to pinpoint their true eating triggers. 

Here’s how to do it:

The next time you feel driven to stress eat, give yourself permission to overeat. 

(BTW: When it’s no longer forbidden, the intense craving for a whole box of cookies sometimes turns into a more manageable desire for just one or two.)

• See it as a learning experience, one that allows you or to observe your thoughts and behavior in real time.

  
  

• Resist the urge to judge or criticize yourself. Try to observe your experience as neutrally as possible. If you’re having trouble, imagine you’re a scientist collecting data on someone else.

  
  

• Afterward, review the worksheet. Are there any patterns or a-ha moments?

It’s possible you’ll have to do this experiment a few times before the trigger(s) become obvious. That’s okay.

Once you’re aware of the trigger, decide what to do about it. 

For example, maybe you decide to avoid the trigger, pause and try to ride out the sensation of stress, or you interrupt the cycle by turning to a stress management technique rather than food.

Awareness is powerful.

Sometimes just knowing you’re experiencing a trigger is all you need to reduce the urge to eat. 

Happy and healthy eating to all you scientists out there!

Coach Elle