Don't feel comfortable about your comfort eating? Here are some non-surgical ways of stopping it.
Learn to eat only when you are hungry.
Comfort eating is just one cause of obesity but it is one which should be capable of being eliminated without hardship, drugs or surgery and a resultant weight loss achieved.
Comfort eating is the drive to eat for a reason or series of reasons not related to actual, self-generated hunger pangs. It may originate from a number of causes - each of which we can learn to combat, and, in doing so, do our bit to improve our lifestyle and fight off obesity.
The main causes of comfort eating and its associated weight and health problems are as follows:
Boredom
You are obese and there is nothing else worthwhile to do so you indulge in comfort eating. Not only is this an unnecessary intake of food, it may well be either at a bad time of day for digestion or consist of 'snacky' type meals with high levels of fat and sugar. Instead of comfort eating through boredom, find an outlet for your mind's energy - take up a hobby, get a social life, go for a walk; anything but get out and get your mind off of food!
Triggered by media
Do you remember Pavlov's dogs and how he could get them to drool on command even if there was no food present? Pavlov also found the results were reproducible with humans so don't think that your elevated status makes you immune to adverts for burgers, doughnuts, cakes, crisps etc on the TV. Advertisers pay not-so-small fortunes to learn how to trigger the 'comfort eating' emotion in their viewers. Avoid the advert breaks - make a cup of tea or coffee, go for a walk in the garden, do a crossword but don't get distracted by the high calorie foods you are being tempted to consume.
Loneliness
Along with obesity, loneliness is a major element of today's society. If you are 'trapped' in your apartment from getting home from work time to leaving for work the following morning and have no external contact, it is a simple matter to reach for the cookie jar, bag of chips, sweets or whatever and indulge in a bout of comfort eating. Find a friend or, if you can't, join an online pen-pal club, make a personal website, upload some videos or talk about things that interest you. Sooner or later you won't feel alone anymore and you won't want have the time for comfort eating. Don't let being fat trap you into being ostracized.
Anger and frustration
Many of us are trapped in a job or relationship or other situation which we feel is going nowhere. Particularly if you are obese, it is easy to turn the anger inwards and, instead of dealing with the cause of the problem, we turn our hands against ourselves by comfort eating. In doing so we often make others despise us even more and, in doing so, set up a vicious circle from which there can be no escape. If someone is making your life miserable or causing you to feel a failure, it is them who has the problem, not you. All bullies are cowards and, if you call their bluff, they will probably crumble. Make it clear you will not tolerate abuse and that you will take every action necessary to prevent it from reoccurring. On the other hand, if the situation was a single and clearly isolated event, be 'big enough' to put it behind you.
Self-esteem
It could be that obesity or having eating disorders is hereditary or maybe you have acquired it because of an unhappy childhood or similar traumatic event. No matter how terribly you have suffered, you risk being turned into a victim twice over. The obvious person to seek help from is a professional counselor but you can do much to reduce comfort eating with positive thinking. Don't let other people's shame reflect on you - if you were abused, the abuser is the one who is to be reviled, not you. Whatever your background, you need to learn to make a new future - one which neither involves third-party approbation nor comfort eating.
We hope you have found these few non-medical tips for weight loss to be of help. Avoiding being obese or fat may not be an option for everyone, weight loss through a conventional diet may also be very difficult but anyone can attack the need for comfort eating.
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