3 Ways to Stop Emotional Eating This Holiday Season

Emotional eating is totally a thing, and if there’s ever a time that it’s more likely to happen, it’s the holidays. What exactly is emotional eating? For starters, emotional eating is a response to both bad and good emotions—although emotional eating due to positive emotions usually gets a lot less attention. Some of us are self-proclaimed stress-eaters. I’m thinking about the college students cramming for exams and downing bags of chips and M&Ms while they’re studying. Power-eating popcorn during a suspenseful movie also comes to mind. RELATED: Healthy Eating 101: How to Eat Healthy in College Others of us chomp our way through disappointment, sadness and loneliness. You pick up the pint of ice cream when you find out your end-of-year bonus isn’t coming through, or comfort yourself with a pound of holiday fudge because you can’t get home for Christmas. The holidays are filled with mixed emotions and it is usually a stressful time. Couple that with celebrating the togetherness of the holidays with a stocked fridge and pantry. And when I say stocked, I don’t mean with healthy foods. I mean packed full of all the I eat this once-a-year-foods—things like peppermint bark, snowflake cookies and eggnog.  Emotional eating has nothing to do with hunger, nutrition or wellness goals. Food is not made up of only vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and fiber. It’s also made up of stuff that connects us to our feelings. So, how do you stop emotional eating? And how can you make it through the emotional roller coaster of the holiday season without throwing your goals out the (perfectly trimmed) window? Great question.  RELATED: Enroll in Keri Glassman’s 4-Part Emotional Eating Course Here are my top tips for how to stop emotional eating. Keri Glassman’s Top Tips to Stop Emotional Eating Reframe your intentions Yes, you could choose to go through the holidays focusing on the guilt for not remembering to buy your colleague a gift, sleep-deprived because you’ve been burning the candle at both ends to get everything done, stressed out because the holiday cards haven’t arrived … and so on and so on. You could also choose to get through the holidays mindfully. Making the choice to focus on celebrating the company you keep, being in the moment and giving attention to your holiday traditions. This may help keep from getting too stressed, overwhelmed, and reaching for the soothing arms of that hot cocoa with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. For when you do feel stressed (hey, it happens!), try keeping a warm mug of tea on hand. It will serve many purposes: The heat and smell will soothe and relax you and your feelings, it will hydrate you, and it will serve as a reminder to keep your wellness a priority. Know that YOU are in control You do not have to be a victim of the stress and general emotional energy-suck of the holidays. Instead, try this: Decide in advance what you’re going to bring to Aunt Edna’s holiday potluck (rosemary spiced nuts, anyone?), so you know you have a healthy snack on hand. Have a satisfying and healthy dinner before you head out to the office party so you don’t wind up making puff pastries your meal. Or, go ahead and make the decision to stick to seltzer with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds instead of champagne. Keeping a food journal is also helpful. For one, it will help you see that the “binge” you thought you had was actually just a little too much brie, but it will also help you eat less. Knowing you will have to write it down will make you think twice before going for seconds of the pie. Bottom line: Feeling empowered helps you control your emotions and your eating. Triple D yourself Finally, use the three Ds when you’re trying to stop an emotional eating situation. Delay. Slow yourself down. Don’t head straight for the food. Start with a glass of water, tea or seltzer and make a conscious decision to slow your intake. Nobody is going to rip your plate out from under you and the appetizer tray will still be there in 15 minutes. Slow down, friend. Distract. You should be catching up with friends and family. That is what the holiday season is really about. Distract yourself by talking to your loved ones, checking out the ornaments on the tree, or lending a hand to the host. Disarm. Don’t keep unwanted food in the house. Don’t hover over the buffet table. Out of sight, out of mind. On a similar note, don’t bring sweets and treats home. Keep your home focused on health and wellness by stocking up on winter produce such as grapefruit, clementines, pomegranate and root veggies. RELATED: How to Add Winter Produce to Your Diet (and Why You Should)

Sugar Cravings: 5 Reasons They Happen and How to Stop Them

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How To Help My Clients Stop Binge Eating When They’re Stressed

Ask Keri: How can I help my clients stop binge eating when they’re stressed? Keri Says: Life is stressful and it seems like over the past year, life has really overachieved at this. Sigh. An endless barrage of unpleasant news stories, uncertainty about the economy, and the normal day-to-day stressors we all come up against and you have a recipe for an uptick in stress, anxiety and the emotional eating fallout that comes with. Many people have been experiencing “binge eating” to a level that is far from their norm. Stress increases appetite and cravings for sugary, high-fat foods that provide a quick rush of stress-relieving serotonin and dopamine. What does this do? It makes us want more and more of these types of food. Food addiction is also a real thing. It’s also important to note that “binge eating” is often used by clients in this context: “I binged on cookies over the weekend while watching football with friends.” They may have emotionally overeaten but they may or may not have an actual binge eating disorder (BED). Clinically, binge eating refers to consuming a large amount of food in a short period while feeling a loss of control, often accompanied by guilt or distress. BED is a diagnosable condition included in the DSM-5 and requires meeting specific criteria. It is best to use the terms such as overeat, or emotionally overeat to avoid confusion unless a person truly has BED. Here’s how you can help your clients stop this cycle right in its tracks. Identify Triggers First, you need to help your client identify triggers leading to emotional eating. Some people don’t realize that emotions are influencing certain eating patterns. Ask your clients (or yourself) if their having cravings after watching the news? Do they down a bag of chips after every power struggle with their child about doing homework? Are they scrolling through a full email inbox as they eat lunch? Identifying the situations/emotions that trigger eating is the first step to controlling it. RELATED: Nutritious Life Emotional Eating Course Control Triggers Once you’ve identified triggers, then it’s time to develop controls for these triggers. In other words, a plan of action to combat them. This is going to look different for every person. I like to think of controls in two ways: food controls and non-food controls. Food controls are for those times that a person is truly hungry and/or it’s meal time. Non-food controls are for when there is no true hunger. Having a control (aka plan) on its own often helps a person to feel more calm and thus, less likely to emotionally eat. A food control is something that will satisfy a craving without causing a person to “eat around” a craving. For example, if someone is craving something sweet, a sliced apple paired with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a drizzle of honey may do the trick. It’s substantial enough and sweet enough to provide satisfaction. In the mood to crunch? Celery sticks won’t cut it if there is true hunger involved, but a tortilla, cut into quarters and baked with a sprinkle of sea salt and served with a tablespoon of guacamole may. Having a go-to control food for when a person is feeling triggered (but also truly hungry) is key. A few examples of non-food controls are calling a friend (I know, I know, you’ve heard it before, but it works!), doing a face mask, dropping and doing ten push ups (it just resets your mindset) or even cleaning a drawer can all stop the urge to emotionally eat. What is key here is to find an activity that will actually relieve stress, delay and distract eating and change a person’s frame of mind. Whether it’s a stressful election, the holiday season or just the daily hustle, stress and other triggers of emotional eating are unavoidable. But, having controls can dramatically reduce unwanted outcomes from acting on those triggers. Helping clients find food and non-food related ways to cope will not only support their efforts to maintain healthy eating habits, but will also improve their overall health and wellness. It’s a win-win, if you ask me. (Featured photo: Shutterstock)

How I Broke Up With Food Guilt and Started Loving My Body

Like most people born in the ’80s, I was a member of the clean plate club. I’d ask questions like “how many more bites?” and was always told to finish what was on my plate. My mother made sure that we had balanced meals consisting of protein and greens. I kept up my plate-cleaning practices as I got older, but as a young adult, that quickly meant lots of takeout, fast food, and microwave dinners—all things that have a place in a healthy non-restrictive diet, by the way. But those things became my diet. My eating habits didn’t change until I started working out in my late twenties. I was beginning to hear nutrition buzz words around the gym, like macros and BCAAs. Being too embarrassed to ask, I’d Google these new-to-me terms to figure out what they were. Slowly, I started thinking more about the food I was putting into my body. I lost around 40 pounds over the course of eight months by eating better and working out regularly. This interest in health eventually led me to a new career a few years later. As I transitioned out of working in mental health, I pursued further education in nutrition and health coaching. I’m now a holistic health coach with a practice focusing on women and families. (I’m Nutritious Life Certified, too!) Even still, I was constantly living in fear that I would fall back into my old habits. After living a mostly sedentary life, I was terrified I would lose my motivation and enjoyment of eating well and exercising regularly. I constantly looked at myself in the mirror. I scrutinized the roundness of my hips, measured various parts of my body, and chastised myself because the inches weren’t coming off. Then I got pregnant… I exercised throughout my pregnancy, but I really leaned into my carb-y cravings. I had gained weight in places I wasn’t expecting, and the weight didn’t fall off as easily as I had hoped. After I had my baby, I recorded my measurements on my bathroom mirror and took pictures of myself every single week. I’d cry and become angry when I didn’t hit my weight-loss goals, and I had a constant inner dialogue of self-harm and hate. Rationally, I knew that obsessing didn’t matter. I knew that the doughnut I had for breakfast wouldn’t cause me to spiral out of control. But I would still beat myself up about it afterward. Worse, it seemed that the more I learned about food and nutrition, the more extreme I became. I realized things were getting out of hand when I was about 24 weeks pregnant with my second son. I told myself that I was going to have a healthier pregnancy. Eat more vegetables but indulge consciously. And I was doing a really good job! I was indulging in extra calories, exercising, and enjoying a fair amount of fruits and vegetables. But I still had a full meltdown when I realized I was gaining more weight than I had anticipated. I was devastated. My turning point… I knew that my reaction was abnormal, so I reached out to a friend, who met my downward spiral with love and support. She gave me some amazing advice: don’t look at the scale. She reminded me of what I was carrying (my son!) and why I needed the weight. I already knew this, but I needed to hear it from someone else. After my pregnancy, I fell back into some of the same habits. But at some point, I just let it go. Diving further into my own wellness journey and seeing the cycle of body dysmorphia and obsessive control over my eating habits and size made me feel a bit ill. Seeking help from my friends, my doctor, and my therapist best friend helped me break the vicious cycle. I’d ask myself what I needed in the moment: water, food, rest? And if the answer was food, what kind of food? Of course, I still have times when I look in the mirror and chastise myself for not having the perfect body, but I don’t let it consume me. I share my feelings with someone, or just say them out loud and move forward. Every day, I work to focus on what I’m grateful for, how my body feels, and what my body and my heart need. And during pizza night, I focus more on the laughter and time I’m spending with my family than feelings of food guilt. I know everyone’s journey is different, and trust me, I’m still a work in progress, but self-acceptance is well worth the effort.  (Photo: Shutterstock)

Are These Psychological Barriers Messing With Your Weight Loss?

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What Do Your Food Cravings Really Mean?

Q: Why Do I Get Food Cravings, and What Do They Mean? A: Food cravings may sometimes arise from old habits or memories (like the smell of your grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies…mmm). However, while most of the research is young and doesn’t show a direct link between specific cravings and nutrient deficiencies, there is some evidence pointing to food cravings as your body’s natural, instinctive way of letting you know you that you need more of an important nutrient. Listening to your biology isn’t easy in today’s world, but it’s crucial here, especially since cravings may direct you towards a false fix, like processed foods and sugary treats, which will temporarily alleviate the craving but won’t get at the root of the issue. I stopped by The Doctors recently to share a few of the most common food cravings and what your body may be telling you when you have them, and I’ll break them down for you, here. Crave This, Eat That The Craving: French fries What It Means: If you’ve got a hankering for fries or other salty snacks like potato chips and pretzels, you could be slightly dehydrated. Hey, it’s always great to drink more water, so start there. But it could also mean you need calcium, since studies have shown a marginal deficiency of the mineral could stimulate the desire for salt, and others have shown women on low-calcium diets crave salty food more. How to Satisfy It: If you indulge the craving, the salt will temporarily increase calcium levels in the blood, essentially tricking the body into thinking it’s taking in calcium when it’s not. Instead, reach for calcium-rich foods like yogurt, kefir, almonds, tofu, sesame seeds, and sardines. The Craving: Chocolate cupcakes What It Means: An overactive sweet tooth may be a signal that you’re magnesium deficient, according to research. And while magnesium deficiency is not proven to cause PMS symptoms, some studies have shown increasing the amount of the mineral your diet can decrease PMS symptoms such as irritability, fluid retention, and headaches. I don’t know about you, but for me, those symptoms often lead to cravings for a bottomless tub of chocolate ice cream. How to Satisfy It: A diet rich in foods such as spinach, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains will ensure that you don’t become magnesium deficient. Then, you can eat sugary treats as conscious indulgences, when it’s really worth it, rather than constantly fighting the urge. The Craving: A juicy burger What It Means: Here’s a case where your body’s sending you a clear signal. A strong craving for meat may mean you’re iron-deficient. In fact, studies show that in pregnant women and others with iron deficiencies, food cravings serve to prevent or alleviate the nutritional deficit. How to Satisfy It: Go ahead, grill up a grass-fed, organic burger, since red meat is the best source of iron. You can also get it from fish and poultry, or if you’re a vegetarian, in tofu, legumes (lentils and kidney beans), nuts (cashews and almonds), seeds (pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds), oatmeal, dried fruit (apricots and raisins), and vegetables (mushrooms and potatoes). Just keep in mind that it’s harder for the body to absorb iron from plant-based sources. To help, pair iron-rich foods with foods rich in vitamin C, as it will help your body absorb the iron. The bottom line? Listen up! Your body has got a lot to say. Your food cravings may be telling you a lot more than, “Do not pass go, head straight for the nearest Shake Shack.”

Do You Suffer From Disordered Eating?

  Do you think about the consequence of a meal far after it’s over?  Do you weigh yourself at least once a day, thrown off by the slightest change in the number? Do you restrict foods or entire food groups that limit the amount of food you consume? Do you skip meals, use laxatives, or attempt to fast? If any of this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from what’s known as disordered eating. Disordered eating includes a wide range of thoughts and behaviors that, according to the DSM-IV (a fancy diagnostic classification tool used by the medical community) don’t warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder, like anorexia nervosa or bulimia. However, it should in no way be minimized or thought of as less destructive or mentally invasive. Both eating disorders and disordered eating carry harmful consequences. Because disordered eating is less “extreme” than anorexia or bulimia in terms of endangerment to life, many people, including those suffering, don’t realize the impact it has on their mental and physical health. People may begin to socially withdraw, often saying no to dinners/dates. Sometimes the suffering can manifest itself in anxiety or depression. Often, constant denial that there’s anything wrong exists. The symptoms are harder to detect than a traditional eating disorder. Because this condition is more “silent” than a traditional eating disorder, it’s less likely to picked up by family and friends. Many people suffer for far too long before realizing that the inner pain and conflict they feel isn’t “normal”. Others consider their feelings of guilt and shame to be completely normal, and live their entire lives without getting the help that is available. The Signs and Symptoms of Disordered Eating Rigidity around food and exercise regimen Feelings of guilt and shame when making what’s considered to be “poor” eating decisions Emotionally driven eating Preoccupation with food, body, and working that causes stress and negatively impacts other areas of life Dieting Misusing laxatives/diuretics/colon cleansers Denial of physical hunger and satiety, usually for the sake of losing weight How Did Disordered Eating Happen? In my opinion, disordered eating is the result of the messages we see and hear in magazines, commercials, and television that have left men and women suffering. 1200 calorie diets have been drilled into our head for years.  Home economics, health class, and the science courses have failed to fully teach the science of food and relay the importance of individualized needs. We live in an “Eat this food, don’t eat that food” society, which frequently contradicts itself. Ever been told avocados are healthy, but then told they make you fat? We make 200-300 food choices per day. Without a clear understanding of what a food will do to our bodies, our perplexity intensifies. How to Recover From Disordered Eating First, you must identify that you’re living in pain, and that the pain isn’t normal. Whether that be negative self worth, obsession with food, binging, or a refusal to eat in restaurants or outside of your home. Second, accept that you’re not to blame. This is 100% not your fault. These feelings are so abundant that they can pass as the norm for many people. Social media has become a part of our routine, and with millions of messages flooding our brains daily, we’ve become more susceptible to eating disorders and disordered eating. Third, understand that it’s possible for you to improve your relationship with food and your body.  If you want to get out of the messed up relationship you have with food, the power is yours. Fourth, seek help. Whether from a psychologist or a Registered Dietitian, make a plan with a health professional who can steer you in the right direction. The process of recovery may take anywhere from a month to a few years. Be patient with yourself and the process and know that you’ll soon be able to focus on the important things in life. About Lisa: Lisa Hayim, MS, RD is a Registered Dietitian and Mindful Eating Expert in New York. She holds her Master’s in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Columbia University. She works in private practice, helping clients and patients learn to eat real food and make choices mindfully. Lisa believes that healthy is a complete state of physical, mental, and social well being. When we nourish our bodies with whole foods and learn to be mindful, we are not only preventing and combating disease, but effortlessly learning to appreciate our bodies. Follow Lisa on Instagram @TheWellNecessities, or head to TheWellNecessities.com  or plant based recipes that are 5 or less ingredients!

Eating Late at Night: Foods That Help You Sleep

People always ask me, “Is it ok or is it bad to eat past 7 or 8pm?” What I always answer is, “It depends.” The good news is that your body is not a clock, and if you eat past 7 or 8, then you are not suddenly going to gain 10 pounds. What’s more important than the clock is your overall schedule. No matter what time you begin or stop eating in a day, you need to make sure: You are eating whole real foods You are starting your day within 1.5hrs of rising and eating a healthy breakfast You are eating consistently throughout the day There is some research that shows when you eat calories late at night you don’t burn them as efficiently. Also when you eat late at night your body is focusing on digesting versus recovering, which is a bad thing. We all need recovery time, aka beauty sleep. And one group of people that really shouldn’t be eating anything right before bed is those that suffer from acid reflux. (When you lie down soon after eating, you are more likely to have reflux.) But the biggest thing I see affecting people when it comes to eating late is not that dinner is at 9pm versus 7pm, but rather that they are usually eating extra calories and the wrong type of calories. 3 Reasons Why Most People Eat Late at Night: 1. Hunger. So very often people eat late at night because they’re hungry, but I’m not talking about good hunger like you need a little snack after dinner because you’re burning a lot of calories and your body really needs it. I’m talking hunger because you’re up until 3 in the morning studying for an exam or watching netflix or out with friends eating late night cheese fries when you should be sleeping. If you were sleeping you wouldn’t be hungry, and you wouldn’t need those extra calories. 2. Emotions. Sometimes, late night eating is simply emotional eating. Maybe you’re sad, maybe you’re feeling lonely, or maybe you’re happy,  and you’re looking for comfort in a bowl of ice cream. 3. Habit. Sometimes it’s just habit. You go in to turn off the lights in the living room and pass through the kitchen and notice there are leftover cookies whispering your name. None of these are good reasons to eat late at night. So what if you’re one of those people that have a little bit earlier schedule and might need a legit night time snack? Sometimes the answer is simply herbal tea. Watch the video and I’ll explain why, and I’ll also give you some great foods that help you sleep when you really want to eat – not sip – something.

How to Stop Emotional Eating

Identify your triggers and plan interventions to gain control of them—or at least reign them in.

3 Reasons Why Stress and Weight Gain Go Together

One of my clients is a model student. Her food journals are impeccable. Her hard work is admirable. If she isn’t in it to win it, nobody is. Recently we were looking at her food journal and matching it to her weight log. We noticed that over a month long period, her food, exercise, water intake and sleep seemed really stable, but one of the weeks her weight trended up 3 pounds! It wasn’t menstrual. There weren’t extra hidden peanut butter cups she didn’t cop to. It felt like a total head scratcher, but when I asked about what was going on that week, she admitted she had been covering for a vacationing colleague and her workload doubled. Her mother was dealing with medical issues and she was in the middle of college application madness with her son. All of these moving pieces really stressed her out. I reminded her, like I’m reminding you today, that if you think your weight is only a reflection of the food you eat, you are wrong. Stress packs on the pounds, just like a double cheeseburger does. Here’s Why Stress and Weight Gain Go Together: Stress affects your hormones. In a calm state, your hormones hum happily along, processing the foods you eat, regulating your sleep, managing your immune system and many more things. When you’re stressed because you’re running late or your computer just crashed, trust me your hormones aren’t maximizing your metabolism, they’re busily managing your stress responses. This leads to unbalance in your body, and weight gain is often a result.  Emotional eating only works for a few minutes. When your boss yells at you, your crush is stringing you along or you’re waiting for test results, that impulse to push pretzels into your mouth comes, in part, from a biological place. Those pretzels will release the happy-hormone serotonin in your brain and give your anxiety a temporary dulling effect. Sadly for your spare tire, the effects may last longer. While eating soothes negative emotions, it’s not worth the long term consequences. Stress can steal your smile. When you are boiling with negative energy, your last instinct is to play or enjoy a laugh. Stress robs you of your sense of humor, and research shows that feeling good is positively linked with a strong immune system and better quality of life. It’s also linked to feelings of well being and, you guessed it, a lower weight. It’s impossible to get rid of all of your stress, right? So you need to spend some extra work creating a plan of action for managing it. Reading, meditating, long showers and listening to music can help you do just that. Time you spend on active stress management is uber-valuable to your health. Plus, it makes you feel good. And who doesn’t want to feel good?!