Cheat Sheet: Emotional Eating

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1 Cheat Sheet: Emotional Eating 3 Simple Secrets to Stop Emotional Eating Now Unfortunately, very few people including doctors really understand the emotional and spiritual aspects of losing weight. It's not just a physical problem. And unfortunately most diet and exercise programs just gloss over these crucial details as well. You see, we all have our emotional eating triggers. Whether certain foods or certain stressful situations that get us started. And once we get started, it's hard to stop. We start with just a bite. But a few hours later, we look at the now-empty container of cookies, cake, chocolate or something else... and only feel worse than when we started. Not to mention, now feeling ashamed of ourselves for having over-eaten... again. Then it seems like the most natural thing in the world is to eat more so we can feel better... and down the spiral we go. But there are a few simple secrets that have helped dozens (maybe even hundreds) of women over 50 overcome their emotional eating triggers... and finally lose the stress, lose the shame and lose the weight. How to Stop Emotional Eating Now Step #1: Kill the Cravings that Drive Emotional Eating We are taught that cravings are just part of losing weight. That we should just accept it and deal with it. Most people will find that they never make any real progress towards losing weight until they take the opposite approach, however. Allow me to explain. Cravings can have biological reasons. For example, a nutritional deficiency can cause them. They also tend to have psychological components as well, though. Some are even 100% psychological. To help you overcome the cravings, I d like to share a process with you. 1

2 This process may seem strange at first. Once you try it, though, you ll appreciate how powerful it is for overcoming cravings. You see, the reason cravings are so difficult to overcome is because we are taught to reject our cravings and see them as a personality flaw. This means that they get ignored instead of dealt with and removed. So, in the back of your mind, they are always lurking and waiting to sabotage your efforts. To overcome your cravings and remove them for good, the first step is to accept that you have a craving, and accept yourself despite having one. The next step is to simply pause for a moment. When you ignore a craving, you tend to only see two options; giving into it or ignoring it. You tend to not see the alternative options. So once you accept the craving, just pause for a moment, and take note of any alternatives that come to mind. Indulging it could be the best thing, the only thing. But until you really consider the other alternatives available to you, you ll never know if it s really what s best for you. The next step is to reflect on the nature of the craving. Of all the foods you could eat, why do you want this one? Why do you want it right now as opposed to another time? If you were to eat it, where might you get it? Once you had it, how would you know it s the right quality? How much would you need to eat in order to feel satisfied? Then, inquire as to how this craving got started in the first place. Try to think of the first time you had this craving in your life. What was going on at that time in your life? Was there anyone else there with you? What was happening? How did you feel before and after you gave in to the craving for the first time? Looking back, was there any way that you could have satisfied your craving without eating the food? Then, take note of any new options that have occurred to you in the previous 4 steps. Do you still feel like eating the food is the best option? If another options occurs to you, is it something worth considering? Would this alternative option be more likely to lead towards your weight loss goals? How to Stop Emotional Eating Now Step #2: Focus on Changing More than Just Your Diet For most women over 50, their biggest problem is that they can lose some weight... but it seems to always come back afterward. Or even leave them worse off than when they started. There are physiological reasons for this. Such as leptin resistance, the fat memory effect, and several others. But there are also psychological reasons... 2

3 You see, when a woman is trying to lose weight, she is consciously focused on maintaining her diet until she reaches the finish line. But her subconscious habits are still mostly the same beneath the surface. (Indeed, this is part of the reason so many women struggle to change their diet. They must fight against their habits every step of the way.) And as soon as she achieves her weight loss goal and stops watching her diet she drifts back into her old eating habits without even realizing she is doing it... and regains all the weight. Because she is no longer actively monitoring herself. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you'll need to change your subconscious habits as well. Once you've changed your subconscious habits, you'll simply maintain a healthy weight without it being a struggle. And you'll no longer find yourself drifting back into old habits every time the diet ends. This may sound strange. Or perhaps even offensive. But truth is until a woman changes her habits for good... she'll always only struggle to lose weight... and feel trapped every time she gains it all back. To help you make these changes in your life, you might consider trying the following technique. This technique comes from psychology, and is the most powerful one we ve found. Before I share it, though, there s something I should address. This might seem odd to use psychological techniques, but your habits are partially a psychological problem, so it makes sense that in order to change them you ll need to use psychological techniques. Also, I realize this technique may seem juvenile at first, but once you try it, you ll be glad you did. Now... this technique has 4 steps. Step #1: The first step is to decide on the behavior that you want to change; the specific behavior that makes you less likely to achieve your goals. Such as thinking all healthy food tastes bad. Or daydreaming about foods you've decided not to eat. Or whatever it may be. Step #2: Once you ve chosen something to change, make an image in your mind of that behavior. For example, perhaps you want to stop seeing healthy food as bland and terrible... so you are more likely to stick to your diet and lose the weight. Imagine yourself at the dinner table feeling bad about your diet and looking at your food with utter disdain. Imagine it as you would see it through your own eyes. Step #3: Then, once you have a clear picture of what it is you want to change, you need to create another image in your mind. An image of yourself as you would be if you made the desired change. 3

4 Such as imagining yourself perking up, feeling more confident, feeling more cheerful and thinking about how great it is to be able to eat healthy, because it means you ll be able to lose weight, look great, and avoid possible health complications. Imagine this happening from a bird s-eye view, looking down from above as you are eating. Step #4: Then you need to do a swish. Start by making a large bright image in your mind of the behavior you d like to change. Then, in the bottom right-hand corner of that picture, make a small dark picture of the new behavior you want instead. Now, take that small picture, and in less than a second, make it grow in size quickly and burst through the image of the behavior you no longer desire. As you do this, say the sound whoosh out loud with excitement and enthusiasm. I realize saying whoosh sounds strange, but it s important. It sends a series of powerful signals to your brain. You will almost always feel a rush of excitement after doing it along with this technique. Which puts you in a better mood and makes it easier to stay motivated. Once you ve setup the images in your mind, you want to do the mental imagery very quickly. It should all take less than one second. Then, open your eyes briefly, close your eyes again, and repeat the technique. Do this a total of 6 times. If you follow these directions, from now on, every time your mind starts doing the action that makes it harder to lose weight, it will automatically trigger the new behavior that makes it easier to lose weight instead. This tends to make it much easier to stick with your diet. Also, since you are changing the way you feel and think about eating healthy, you ll be much more likely to keep the weight off longterm. If you repeat this process once a day for 5 days, you'll find yourself suddenly taking on the new attitude automatically... making it easier to stick to your diet for the longterm and finally lose the weight. How to Stop Emotional Eating Now Step #3: Why Having More Willpower is NOT the Best Way to Stick to the Program Having the willpower and motivation to stick to a diet gets a lot of press. For many women over 50, though, that never really works. They'll eat really well for a few days or a few weeks, but then they'll inevitably say screw it and then their off to the races again. 4

5 What really makes the difference for them is when they stop trying to give themselves just a bite of their trigger foods. And, instead, just don't even let their trigger foods in the house at all. It can be tough at first. But if you're reading this, you've probably already learned the hard way that having just a bite rarely stops there. And in time you'll no longer crave these foods and finally be able to stop thinking about them all the time. So observe yourself and find your trigger foods. The foods that send you over the edge and into a downward spiral of emotional overeating. Then make an effort to keep them out of the house no matter what. 5