If you’re wondering what to do instead of stress eating, first know your struggle is not your fault.
The very solution we have to control eating issues (dieting) can raise stress hormones, leading you to rely on food for comfort even while you’re trying to control that behavior.
It’s maddening, and yet there is hope!
What do do instead of stress eating
Before giving you the top technique to calm stress eating cravings, you have to understand that you are stress eating because it works.
Stress eating helps you numb the discomfort of difficult emotions like stress and overwhelm, while giving you a moment of pleasure.
To discover what to do instead of stress eating, you need a way to safely feel the discomfort of your strong emotion, so it can dissipate without using food to numb it.
Stress may be causing you to reach for food if you notice any of these stress eating symptoms:
- Using food to reward yourself after a long, hard day.
- Eating in front of the TV or while scrolling social media to escape.
- Going to the fridge, pantry, or drive-through to get comfort, or ending up there without really realizing it because food is helping you zone out.
- Struggling with controlling your food intake and also struggling with anxiety or panic.
- Teetering between feeling out of control with food and trying to follow rigid food rules to feel in control.
And if you can identify with anything on this list, remember this: you aren’t some out of control person with poor self-control. You’re stress eating because it works!
How to Stop Stress Eating
The goal when healing emotional or stress eating is to learn to identify your emotional and physical needs and take care of them without indulging in food.
Essentially to be so great at listening to your own needs and meeting them, that you rarely get to a place where your body is screaming for cookies to comfort. This is what I help women in midlife and beyond do with my Courage to Trust Method.
And yet, during the process of learning to care for yourself, it’s normal to need a technique to relieve the stress cravings. Read on to discover such a technique for yourself…
Using the Emotional Freedom Technique to Stop Stress Eating: 2 Part Video Series
The Emotional Freedom Technique (also known as Tapping) is a great tool to help reduce feelings of stress and the panic associated with strong cravings in the moment.
In this 2-Part Video Series I will walk you through walk to do instead of stress eating with a brief intro to the Emotional Freedom Technique and how to use it for stress eating, and then a 10-minute guided tapping exercise to calm stress cravings.
Part 1: Watch this short video to learn what the Emotional Freedom Technique is and how it teaches you what to do about stress eating:
Part 2: This 10-minute guided tapping exercise will teach you to calm the cravings:
Video Transcripts:
Title: Introduction to the Emotional Freedom Technique (Tapping) for Stress and Emotional Eating
My name is Cassie Christopher, I am an RD and EE expert and in this video I’m going to share
A brief introduction into a great tool you can use to help with emotional and stress eating, called the Emotional Freedom Technique.
As always, remember I am a Registered Dietitian, not a doctor or therapist. I offer this video as educational material, not to treat or prevent disease. If you are having a medical or mental health emergency please call your local emergency number.
First, what is the Emotional Freedom Technique?
The Emotional Freedom Technique was developed in the 90’s using acupressure points and positive statements. Research supports this technique can help lower stress, anxiety, help PTSD sufferers, and reduce food cravings.
Why does Tapping help with emotional eating and stress eating?
Emotional eating and stress eating happen because food works to make you feel better when you are suffering from uncomfortable emotions. Tapping helps you become aware of how you are feeling, accept your feelings, and then work through them in a positive way so you don’t need to use food to numb them.
How to Tap:
There are 9 acupressure points that we target when tapping, I will help you find them and then you can tap along with me in the guided tapping exercise in the next video.
First, find find the flat part of the bottom of your hand – this is our set-up point.
Then your inner eyebrow. Outer eyebrow, under your eye, under your nose, under your mouth and two inches below your outer collar bone. Then one hand’s width below your armpit on your side, and the crown of your head.
Alright you’ve tapped along all the points, you are ready to get started. Meet me in the next video for a 10-minute tapping technique to calm stress cravings.
Title: 10-minute Tapping Technique to Calm Cravings
My name is Cassie Christopher, I am an RD and EE expert and in this video I’m going to share a 10-minute exercise you can do when you’re feeling the urge to indulge in food due to stress. If you haven’t watched the introductory video and you’ve never tried tapping before, go back and watch that first.
As always, remember I am a Registered Dietitian, not a doctor or therapist. I offer this video as educational material, not to treat or prevent disease. If you are having a medical or mental health emergency please call your local emergency number.
Ok let’s get into it. I’ll lead you where to tap and you will repeat the statement I say for each point after me.
Take a deep breath. Now, starting on the flat part on the outside of your hand, repeat after me:
Even though I have this stress I accept how I feel. The desire to eat in response to stress is so uncomfortable and I accept these feelings. These cravings are strong, and I love and accept myself. -Stress, panic, out of control, feel like I can’t trust myself, fearful, primal urge to eat, frustration with myself for being here again
Next, I will silently lead you through the points while you name what the cravings, emotion or stress feel like in your body: maybe dread, stomach is tight, chest is tight, throat is tight.
After going through a silent round of tapping, if you feel better progress on with the video. If you don’t, then keep naming how you are feeling, becoming aware of the sensations in your body and accepting they are there. Then when you feel a bit bitter, like the stress or cravings have lessened, continue on with us.
Repeat after me as I lead you through the points: I can relax, I am safe to feel, I can handle difficult feelings without eating, I invite peace even while uncomfortable, I am loved, I am worthy of self-care, I invite a feeling of safety in my body, I am enough just as I am
As we silently tap through the next round, ask yourself what you need in the moment.
- The need to eat is a symptom of something else going on, it’s an invitation for care in some way. If you’re not going to eat to care for yourself, you have to find another way to do it, that’s why dieting doesn’t work, it removes your coping mechanisms without replacing them.
- You may have met your needs just by doing this calming exercise. Or, your body may be asking for something more. For the next round, I will lead you through the points and I want you to ask yourself what you NEED.
- Be open to whatever comes up – maybe you need more soothing and comfort, maybe you need to set some boundaries, self-kindness, maybe you are hungry and need to eat.
Come back and follow along with me while you repeat after me: I choose to care for myself, I choose to be kind to myself, My body can trust me to care for myself well, I can trust myself around food, I will meet my needs without indulging in food, I am in control, I trust myself to get the help I need, I can relax.