The first & most obvious way to address comfort eating is to try & resolve why you require the comfort in the first place. In case you require to eat to feel happy, then it may be that something in your life has left you feeling stressed on a regular basis. This might not be so simple to solve, but it is advisable to do your best to discover a solution as it will probably come out in other ways . Find ways to make your life simpler â?? perhaps by looking for different work, perhaps by dropping of your non-essential commitments (like that karate class) or perhaps by changing your surroundings (being unhappy in your home may cause plenty of stress). This way you may find that you start coming home with more energy & feeling less stress so it will be simpler to resist reaching for the fridge. In case you struggle to find what the root cause of your unhappiness is, then you ought to think about speaking with a therapist or counsellor who can help you to work through your issues & uncover things you might not have been aware of in your psyche.
Diet Changes
It may even be that you are not getting of something else in your diet whether it is vitamins & minerals or essential fats. Our body is designed to survive on around 9 portions of fruit or more a day (the government says 7 as a compromise, but actually it is 9) & so there is a lovely chance you won't be getting vitamins. You may then find that you start to crave sweet things because your body wishes an apple, but that you then interpret this as wanting chocolate (there were no unhealthy sweet foods obtainable when they evolved in the wild). Adding a vitamin tablet to your diet may help you to feel more healthy & energetic & prevent you from craving other sweet snacks.
It may be that you actually require those sweet things & that you are feeling low because you are craving carbs. In this case you require to make definite you switch to a diet that is higher in natural & complicated carbs so that you have less of a deficit. This means eating a giant breakfast filled with slow-release carbs like bread & wheat cereal, it means eating at evenly spaced intervals throughout the day, & it means eating plenty of fruit. If you have eaten a whole load of fruit at work then you'll find you have had 'sweet' for day & that you crave something less sugary next. You can also reduce that sweet tooth by forcing yourself to enjoy more savoury & more bland tastes â?? taking the sugar (& sweetener) out of your tea ought to be step.
While this won't be addressing the underlying causes for your eating, a more immediate solution might be to look at alternative ways you could comfort yourself. For example this might mean eating something that won't lead to weight gain. Bananas are a great pick-me-up because they contain plenty of natural sugar & encourage the production of dopamine which is a 'feel good' hormone. Likewise you might also find comfort in a yogurt, a pleasant warm cup of tea, a bowl of cereal or something else gentle, sweet but healthy.
Alternative Solutions
Alternatively you can also look at alternative ways to treat yourself. This can mean hugging your partner (something all of us could stand to do more), it could mean taking a pleasant hot bath or it could mean relaxing under a blanket & watching your favourite TV show.
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