|
Category Sitemaps
Weight loss
Diet
Food
Calories
Exercise
Losing weight
Weight loss help |
Emotions, Foods, Stress, Boredom, Environment:
What Triggers Overeating?
If you are struggling to
lose weight, then you must learn to identify and understand what triggers
you to want to eat. There are many different reasons, depending on a given
situation, that may cause you to turn to food for comfort, escape or
rebellion – just to name a few possibilities.
A trigger, like that of a gun, can be thought of simply as anything that
causes a reaction. Triggers set actions into motion – in this case,
eating.
Following are some of the potential triggers for
overeating that you need to
be on the look out for:
Emotional Triggers for Overeating
We humans are very emotional creatures. As societies continue to advance,
people are taught more and more that it is not only OK, but necessary to pay
close attention to their emotions. We are taught that we must give heed to
our emotions and consistently aspire to achieve a state of emotional
balance. As one result, we have become dependent on the perceived necessity
to always be in emotional equilibrium. To this end, we often, unknowingly,
turn to food in order to help settle our emotional charges and de-stress our
lives.
Emotional triggers for overeating can be both negative and positive. You may
find yourself eating anything available because you are in self-perceived
misery – or because you are experiencing unbridled happiness. The point is
that some emotion that you are experiencing has elicited a response from you
and has caused you to reach for some food – the same way that an
alcoholic
may reach for a bottle.
It is of paramount importance for you to learn to isolate, identify and
understand the emotional triggers that are affecting you – and when. That
will empower you to be able to develop new
coping mechanisms that will
deactivate these emotional triggers to eat.
Food-Based Triggers for Overeating
Food triggers for overeating are not to be confused with:
-
Favorite Foods;
-
Comfort Foods;
-
Cravings;
Food triggers for overeating have nothing to do with how well you like a
food, how that food makes you feel when you eat it, or even how long it has
been since you have tasted that food. Food triggers are foods that make you
lose the ability to control how much of the food that you consume. For
instance, common food triggers include the fat/sugar callings of ice cream
or pizza, the sodium-laden demands of nuts or
potato chips – and the like.
It doesn't matter if you are feeling stressed. It doesn't matter if you are
even hungry. Food triggers for overeating are foods that make you seem to
have no control over your ability to stop eating them.
But you do have control – if you choose to.
Identify your food triggers and then avoid those foods at all costs.
Awareness is the only weapon that you need here. Simply witness what your
food triggers are through intentional observation and introspection – and
then resolve to not purchase those foods any longer. That's all there is to
it.
Environments that Trigger Overeating
Certain environments create overeating triggers. For example, you may find
yourself eating way too much when at a baseball game, a walk-in movie, a
Thanksgiving feast or a buffet-style restaurant. Again, awareness is your
key to victory over these types of triggers. If you truly wish to redefine
your eating habits and avoid these triggers, then it is solely up to you to
become aware of the situations that you are losing control in.
Avoidance is the easiest solution. However, avoidance is not the most
effective solution in the long run. The best solution for overcoming your
weaknesses concerning your triggers for overeating, be they emotional,
food-based or environmental in nature, is to take a close look at your
lifestyle and identify them. Then, you need to be resolute in your decision
to retrain your mind to stop being prey to them.
If you are to ever rise above the power of your triggers for
overeating,
then you must exercise the power of your own mind. Triggers for overeating
have no powers over you that you do not allow them to have. Adapt to those
cravings to overeat!
Social
and familial influences on our eating habits
Dangers of developing unhealthy
relationships with food
Eating foods in moderation or choosing healthy foods?
You must seek approval from your doctor
before starting any new diet.
Please read our
Terms!
|
|
