When the stress of life begins to weigh down on us, we can find ourselves turning to food for comfort. There are a lot of individuals that turn to comfort food and junk food to deal with their stress levels. This isn’t a bad thing, but it can quickly grow into a habit if you’re not careful. In order to avoid this habit and unnecessary weight gain, it’s best to take some steps towards resisting these cravings.
Tips to Reduce Stress Eating
- Delaying
Delaying giving into these cravings would be the first step. Even though it feels like a craving lasts forever, on average a craving will only last about 25 to 30 minutes. 25 minutes can feel like an eternity, so the trick is to take it just 5 minutes at a time. Before you know it, your craving will be gone.
- Distracting
While you’re taking the 5 minute breaks, fill those minutes with healthy distractions. Your body is seeking pleasure that giving to cravings can bring. By distracting yourself with an activity that gives you the same joy, then it makes resisting those pesky cravings easier.
- Distancing
While you are distracting yourself from your cravings, it’s best to create distance between you and your food. By avoiding being near your pantry or kitchen, it’ll be easier to resist the cravings.
- Determination
Another good way to resist cravings is by reminding yourself why you’re working so hard to resist. Many times we can lose sight of why we are trying to lose weight and stay healthy. But if we remind ourselves how these decisions will impact you long term, it’ll make it easier to tell yourself “no”.
- Decision Making
If you find yourself unable to resist these cravings, then you can make the impact of giving in much smaller. Choosing to eat smaller portions, savoring the flavor, eating slowly, etc. can all change the effects of giving into cravings.
All of these steps you can take to combat these emotional eating triggers and maintain a healthy weight. Once you build the habit of resisting, you’ll see your cravings leave before they even have a chance to manifest.