Written By: Bhavyajyoti Chilukoti | Updated : December 23, 2015 9:48 AM IST
It s Saturday night, so it means watching a movie with a burger and a drink.
Feeling blue? What you need right now is a (huge) bag of chips.
You cracked a major deal or got your dream job! What better way than celebrating it with a pizza party!
Whether happy, depressed or sad, we tend to deal with it by eating our comfort food, also known as emotional eating. It's a no-brainer that emotional eating is usually not very healthy.
What is emotional eating
Emotional eating is when you eat for comfort, pleasure, when bored, stressed or depressed. This is because, when stressed, the hormones cortisol and ghrelin are released, which increases your appetite. Even when you are happy, we celebrate through good food, which only increases your caloric intake and leads to weight gain, and eventually obesity. So what do you do, steer away from your comfort food? No. What you should do is indulge in mindful eating. It implies that you pay attention to what you eat and make consciously healthy choices. It not only helps you to connect deeply with everything that you eat but also avoid bingeing.
Dr Alka Chadha, Counsellor for Mental Health Improvement, Hope and Care Centre, Vashi shares simple tips on mindful eating.
1. Distract your mind: Whenever you feel stressed or depressed, distract your mind with music or by indulging in an activity. Even hobbies like painting, reading or gardening can help you to get out of emotional situations. Dancing your heart out or penning your thoughts can help you calm down and divert your mind from emotional eating. Here are 5 reasons why having fun makes you smart.
2. Think of what you want to eat: The aroma of delicious kheer or the sight of a chocolate cake might melt your heart and trigger your brain to reach out for it. In such situations, all you need to do is close your eyes, take a deep breath and think about the food that is enticing you (in this case cake or a kheer). Now, trick your brain by thinking that you are eating what you want to and enjoying every single bit of it. Do this for 15 minutes to calm your cravings and get back to your work.
3. Enjoy every bite: It is important to savour the taste of food rather than gulping it down. This way, you tend to enjoy every bite, which makes you feel full and prevent you from overeating. Also, read about how your body tells you that you are overeating.
4. Eat slowly: Chewing your food properly not only aids in digestion but also helps you eat less, thereby helping you to lose weight. When you eat slowly, your brain sends out a signal of being satiated, which prevents you from overeating.
5. Eat peacefully without any distraction: A common practice in many households is eating while watching TV or scrolling on mobile phones. However, this is not right as people tend to eat more without realising. Over a period of time, this can lead to a wide range of health complications like obesity and indigestion. This the reason why experts recommend switching off your TV and keeping your mobile away from you while eating, so that you eat peacefully without any distraction.
6. Eat only when hungry: When you see a person eating, you might feel like eating even though you are not hungry. This is when you tend to overeat. However, this not only overburdens your stomach but also makes you lazy and fatigued. To prevent this, eat only when you are hungry. You can even trick your brain or drink some water to calm your hunger pangs. Read this if you feel hungry all the time?
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