Eating Triggers
A number of different types of event or situation may trigger you to start eating.
- At the most basic level, you may be genuinely hungry - in which case you may experience an empty feeling in your stomach, perhaps accompanied by stomach rumblings.
- Another possibility is that there is an environmental trigger - i.e. you see or smell food nearby
- Alternatively you might experience an emotional trigger - perhaps you are tempted to eat when you feel depressed, for example
- Or you may experience a psychological trigger - e.g. your thoughts turn to food or you read something about food
- Or you may experience a social trigger such as someone urging you to have that glass of wine
- Or you might experience a craving for a particular food - which could be induced by a number of different things, varying from an emotional trigger to a hormonal imbalance
If you are trying to lose weight it is sensible to try to use more than one type of strategy to try to reduce or resist cravings
- Follow a heallthy diet
- It is usually not to sensible skip meals for the sake of dieting if you are genuinely hungry - not only is it important for you to meet your nutritional needs but you may also find that skipping meals increases your cravings. Better to eat regular balanced meals, ensuring that your body receives all the nutrients it needs.
- Identify environmental triggers that can cause problems for you and if possible reduce them - for example, ensure that food is where possible kept out of view in your house so that you are not tempted to pick at it or snack between meals
- If particular underlying emotional states are a trigger for you to overeat, then seek to address these - e.g. deal with stresses using practical stress management, relaxation or problem solving techniques rather than letting them build up
- Deal with social triggers by making it a higher priority to keep your eating in control than to please others - if appropriate, tell others politely that you are watching your weight and therefore avoiding certain foods and trying to make sure you don't overeat
- Try to be aware of thought patterns that are contributing to your overeating and seek to find things that you can do or say to yourself when the psychological triggers occur which will help to build your motivation or ability to resist them
- for example, start doing another activity which takes up your concentration or
- remind yourself of the benefits of resisting the temptation or
- allow yourself a small amount of the 'forbidden item' as a reward at the end of the week if you manage to keep to your diet plan for the rest of the week.