How to Prevent Binge Eating When You Feel Stressed

It’s a very easy pattern to fall into and yet it can be quite destructive so you may wonder how to prevent binge eating when you feel stressed. It’s a common tendency that so many of us have as we turn to food for comfort. Though some people tend to skip eating when they feel nervous or anxious, this is not the case for so many others. When the stress gets the best of you it’s very common to turn to food to help cope. This obviously leads into binge eating and before you know it, you are eating food just to cope and not because you are hungry. So how can you stop this pattern and ensure it doesn’t become a main fixture in your life?

As you contemplate how to prevent binge eating when you feel stressed, the obvious focus is to find other ways to cope with your feelings. You may find that keeping busy or active is a great way to handle such stress. So when you feel the stress coming at you it may be more productive and therefore helpful to turn to a good powerful workout. This will not only help you to naturally deal with the stress, but in a healthy way that can really benefit you. Exercise also happens to release endorphins which are hormones that help you to feel good. So this is a true win win!

Never Use Food To Help Cope

You may also find in how to prevent binge eating when you feel stressed that another great option is to try to meditate. This will help you to find a way of staying centered and focusing on your breathing and getting relaxed. Meditation can be yoga, visualization, or just something as simple as breathing deeply in a relaxed environment. Whenever you can detach yourself from the source of the stress, this will always help you to refocus and to find a new thing to center around. This will make the stress dissipate and will also serve as an excellent way of managing your emotions in general.

Finally as you think of how to prevent binge eating when you feel stressed, make food off limits at that time. Eat when you are hungry and if you feel the tendency to rush for the kitchen, try something else. This will ensure that you learn to manage your appetite and that you don’t use food as an enemy or as a coping mechanism. This is a good healthy habit to get into in general and will make binge eating a thing of the past too. You can work through what you are feeling or even talk to a trusted family member or friend rather than using food to make the feelings go away for all of two minutes. This only makes stress compounded by guilt.