Ways to Help Control Stress Eating

Stress Eating

As a health educator / hypnotherapist and lifestyle coach, my purpose is to promote awareness, education, and treatment of stress driven  overeating. I take a comprehensive, holistic approach towards assisting individuals toward changing stress overeating patterns. My goal is utilize my educational training, personal experience, and emotional skills to encourage and guide individuals as they transform knowledge into self-discovery and empowerment. I do this by utilizing both their conscious as well as subconscious resources.
Poor Eating Habits are Complex
There are many issues that are involved in overeating but no doubt stress is one of them.

Maybe certain food choices, due to their effect on the brain, may be hardwired in the brain from birth, but they are also greatly affected by our environment which can alter the brain and make us more vulnerable to negative emotions and stress which encourage eating disorders.

Eating has always been a form of self-soothing. There are certain chemicals in the brain that can alleviate pain. When a baby starts to feel the ache from an empty stomach it cries. The mother hears the cry and responds by holding and feeding the baby. The child is relieved of pain and is also rewarded with peace and contentment. This is nature’s survival system. As children, we learn a variety of methods that stimulate the release of these chemicals in order to self-soothe ourselves. This continues into adulthood and one of the easiest ways to self sooth is to use food.

Other self- soothing methods that can help conquer stress eating.

Ø meditation/self-hypnosis
Ø diaphragmatic breathing Ø self-hypnosis
Ø art
Ø journaling