By Theresa Stahl, RD, LDN

Q: Whenever I’m upset or stressed, I immediately head for the kitchen where I end up bingeing on junk food. Afterward, I feel extremely guilty. How can I break this unhealthy habit?

A: Congratulations! Recognizing the problem is always the first step in overcoming it.  At one time or another, we all eat when we’re bored or stressed or upset or excited.  This is called emotional eating, meaning eating for reasons other than hunger.  But if the problem gets out of control, it can lead to serious health problems such as obesity. While it can be difficult to eliminate this habit completely, you can learn to control it so that it doesn’t control you.

Here are some tips to help you overcome your problem:

Pay attention to hunger and fullness.  This is an important key to eating intuitively and not overeating, yet many people continue to override their own body’s signals or ignore them all together.  If you haven’t paid attention to these physical feelings for a long time, it may take some work.  Physical hunger produces physical feelings such as emptiness or growling in the stomach and leaves behind feelings of satisfaction or fullness.  Emotional hunger results in cravings for specific foods without signs of physical hunger. Emotional eating may produce physical feelings of being stuffed as well as emotional feelings of guilt and remorse.

The next time you’re headed toward the fridge, rate your hunger on a scale of 1-10 before you select a snack. You may realize that you’re not really that hungry at all or that a few carrot sticks will do the trick.

Learn to deal with feelings without food.  This is truly a skill worth developing.  We learn at an early age that a cookie can make us feel better or an ice cream cone can turn day time into a party. Therefore, changing your way of thinking will most likely take deliberate thought and action.

Identify alternatives to food to help soothe feelings of sadness, anger, boredom, or excitement. Write these ideas down, and post them where you can see them until they become a normal response to your emotions.  For example, exercise is one of the best ways to feel better due to the body’s physical response to exercise: increases in brain chemicals that make us feel good.  The knowledge and pride that you've burned extra calories and built or maintained muscle helps too.  Also, taking a soothing bath can be a perfect way to relax after a busy day and helps prepare your body for a great night’s sleep.