How Journaling Can Help With Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is something you probably don’t think about until after the fact. You were upset from whatever news you received, the stress you had to deal with, or a new issue that made itself known in your life. Your answer was probably to eat a little bit and think over the issue while giving yourself an indulgence or treat to help you get through.

The problem comes when you are finished and you realize you overate and the stress starts again. One way to help with emotional eating, maybe not to stop it but to at least curb it, is by journaling. Here’s how journaling can actually help.

What is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is defined as using food as a way to cope with negative emotions. It’s not about being hungry; it’s about using food to make yourself feel better in the moment. Some common emotional eating triggers include boredom, stress, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and fatigue. 

If you find yourself emotional eating often, it can lead to weight gain, feelings of guilt and shame, and an unhealthy relationship with food. That’s why it’s so important to find healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with your emotions—and that’s where journaling comes in. 

How Journaling Can Help 

Journaling is a therapeutic activity that can help you understand and process your emotions in a healthy way. When you journal about your emotional eating episodes, you can start to see patterns emerge. For example, maybe you always turn to food when you’re bored or when you’re feeling stressed at work. 

Noticing these patterns is the first step to breaking them. Once you know what triggers your emotional eating, you can start to find other activities to do instead of reaching for food. For instance, if you journal and realize that you always turn to food when you’re bored, make a list of other activities you can do the next time you start to feel bored (e.g., call a friend, take a walk, read a book). 

Slows Down Eating

Even if you start journaling when your emotional eating starts, journaling can help slow the eating process down. While you eat, you can write which will cause you to pause and think about what you are writing. This will allow the food time to settle and let you actually feel when you are full rather than binge eating and feeling overly full later. It also makes you think about why you are emotionally eating, feeling the way you feel, and focusing on the moment instead of just moving through the moment.

Narrowing Down Trigger Patterns

In addition to helping you slow down and move slower through an emotional eating process as well as helping you focus on the real issue that triggered you, journaling has another benefit.

Journaling during or just following an emotional eating moment can help you see a pattern with what is triggering you the most. You can go back to the journal and note what the main trigger was that day.

Just put a small note at the bottom of the journal entry that states what the trigger was for that moment. As you review your journal and the notes, you will see a pattern. Once you see this pattern, you will be able to focus on those triggers and avoid them in the future.

Focus on the Real Issue

When you are going through the emotional eating process, you are focusing on feeling better. If you are thinking about what triggered you, you are likely not thinking about the root cause of the issue.

When you journal, you can work out the issues and get your emotions out. Once those emotions of hurt, anger, or stress are out then you will find yourself writing about the real issues. The trick is to put the journal away and go back to it a few hours or a day later. Read through what you wrote and work out what the real issue was.

You may think that the trigger was a stressful day at work, when in fact the real cause of the trigger was something someone said or something that occurred in the workplace.

Address Your Emotions

Another important step is to address your emotions. If you’re feeling sad, angry, or anxious, talk to someone about it instead of turning to food. Talking about your feelings can help you feel better and may prevent you from emotional eating. 

If you don’t want to talk to someone about your emotions, journaling can also be helpful. Writing about your feelings can help them feel more manageable and may prevent you from emotional eating. 

Find Healthy Ways to cope With Your Emotions

It’s also important to find healthy ways to cope with your emotions. This may include exercise, listening to music, or spending time with friends and family. Find what works for you and make sure to do it on a regular basis. These healthy coping mechanisms can help reduce your stress and may prevent you from emotional eating. 

Conclusion

If you’re struggling with emotional eating, there are some things you can do to prevent it. Identify your triggers and address your emotions. Find healthy ways to cope with your emotions and make sure to do them on a regular basis. these tips can help reduce your stress and may prevent you from emotional eating.