Emotional Eating Binges

If I were to say the words "emotional eating binge," most people would be able to conjure up a vivid mental image to represent that phrase. Few of us in the weight loss community have achieved our advanced status in life without participating in at least one of these events. Today, I'm going to throw a little spin on this phrase.

Emotional eating binges do not necessarily involve large amounts of high calorie food. When we are actively losing, actively changing our habits, we often have very tight control over our impulses. But even if we prevent ourselves from consuming high calorie foods, we may still be falling victim to emotional eating. I know that I have done this myself. There are occasions where I make a salad as big as my head and then sit down to eat it for what seems like hours. My motivation for the meal is not nutrition but the opportunity to eat for as long a time as possible. I maintain enough control to dictate what goes into my mouth, but I am still unable to get past that need to comfort myself with food. Admittedly, eating a mixing bowl full of vegetation is much healthier than scarfing down a pizza and wings or a tub of ice cream. But if the reason for the eating has not changed, am I really any more healthy? I think so. It's all about baby steps, right? My head is slowly accepting the whole concept of eating to live, not living to eat.