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Explore the meaning behind non-hunger eating, and interventions to help clients become more mindful of their eating and choose more helpful tools to cope with distress.
1. Emotional Eating
Making Peace with Food
Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director, AllCEUs
AllCEUs.com Unlimited CEUs and Specialty Certifications $59
2. Objectives
Define emotional eating
Explore emotional eating in terms of its beneficial
functions and rewards
Discuss why restrictive diets do not resolve
emotional eating
Identify interventions to help emotional eaters
3. What is Emotional Eating
Eating in response to emotions and feelings other
than hunger.
Eating AT someone (You made me do this)
Eating to forget/distract
Eating to feel better (release serotonin and dopamine)
Eating out of boredom
Eating out of habit
Not all emotional eaters have an eating disorder
You do not have to “binge” to be an emotional
eater
4. Why is Eating So Soothing
Eating as an infant often involved closeness and
parental attention (oxytocin)
Caregiver generally happy during feeding
Food may be associated with sleep (night time bottle)
Eating as a toddler
Exploration and mastery
Power and control
Formation of memories around foods
Unhealthy foods usually reserved for treats or rewards
5. Soothing cont…
Culturally we associate eating with caring and
celebration
Low blood sugar an cause feelings of
depression/anxiety which are quelled by food
Evolution predisposes the human body to crave
high-sugar, high-fat, high-calorie foods for quick
energy and to prepare for famine
6. What is Behind the Craving
First rule out physical causes
Low blood sugar (anxiety, irritability, fatigue)
Lack of sleep (sugar and stimulants)
Dehydration
Nutritional Causes
High carbohydrate/starchy foods: Serotonin, endorphins
Chocolate: Magnesium, serotonin
Fatty foods: Omega-3
Soda: Calcium
7. What’s behind…
Then rule out habits
Is there a particular time or activity that makes you
crave this food?
Are there particular times you mimndLESSly eat?
Driving
Television
Are you going too long between meals then needing a
sugar boost (which leads to a sugar crash…)
9. Increase Motivation
Eating for Whenever I want Eating for Hunger
Benefits Emotional
Mental
Physical
Social
(Alternatives??)
Emotional
Mental
Physical
Social
Drawbacks Emotional
Mental
Physical
Social
Emotional
Mental
Physical
Social
(Alternatives??)
10. Emotional Eating Interventions
Mindful eating
Food diary
When eating…
Use a plate
Sit
Eliminate distractions
Focus on the food
Time Craving
(food, salty,
sweet)
Emotion or
State
Because of
11. EE Interventions cont…
Try to avoid setting up a binge by
Restricting certain foods
Buying a bunch of “comfort foods”
Going too long without eating
Initially distract (bath, walk, call a friend,
facebook…)
Identify the emotions
If it is depression: Hopeless, helpless
If it is stress/anxiety/anger: Failure, Rejection, Loss of
control, the unknown
12. General Coping
Develop alternate ways of coping with distress
Distract
Talk it out
Journal
Make a pro and con list
Focus on the positive
View failures as learning opportunities
Identify whether it is worth your energy
13. General Coping
Develop alternate ways of coping with distress
ABCs: A= _____ C= Emotional Reaction
Eliminate vulnerabilities
Be compassionate with yourself
Urge surf
Other tools
Close the kitchen
Brush your teeth
Meditate
14. ACT for Emotional Eating
What am I feeling/thinking
What is important to me
Will eating get me closer to what is important to
me
What other things could I do that would get me
closer to my goals
Choose to let it go
Solve the problem
Change the way you feel/think about the problem
15. Holiday Help
Choose lower calorie foods
Keep water or a low calorie beverage in your hand
Talk
Stay away from the buffet
Rehearse refusal skills
Pay attention to your distress meter.
Keep an index card with your coping mantra and
two reasons you don’t want to eat.
16. Summary
Holidays bring out a lot of emotions for people
Some people struggle with depression, anxiety,
jealousy, grief and anger during this time.
When constantly bombarded with high-fat, high
carbohydrate foods, people are tempted to eat to
feel
Calm
Happier
Numb
17. Summary
Emotional eating, like most other escape behaviors
Never addresses the underlying emotions and their causes
Often results in physical issues such as weight gain, poor
sleep, reduced energy (sugar crash)
Some people try to “undo” emotional eating by restricting
other calories which leads to a nutritional deficit and more
cravings
Emotional eaters need to
First find a way to stop before they eat
Second identify the underlying reason for eating
Address the thoughts and emotions leading to the urges