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You've done everything right this time. You're eatinglots of salad, fruit, and protein; using only low fat dressingsand even staying away from white flour and refined sugar.

But then...you have an argument with your spouse. You arebored, stressed, depressed and giving up. You walk by thepantry and see nothing that will satisfy the suddenurge for sugar, salt, potato chips, candy, or whatever yourparticular poison of choice. So you go down to the grocerystore and find what you need, go home and pig out! Maybe youdon't need to go to the store...maybe you've thought ahead becauseyou knew this moment would come and you have a secret cabinetwith all kinds of binge eating goodies!.

Ok, well that might be a little dramatic. But most people havefound themselves following a good, healthy diet and all of asudden, because of some emotional upheaval, they've foundthemselves in the middle of an overeating binge. It can reallyblow your whole healthy eating plan. So what's happeningwhen you find yourself in this situation?And how can you stopemotional eating?

First of all, when you go on an emotional eating binge, strongemotions are causing you to experience stress. This is when yourbody goes into "fight or flight" response. You either "fight"oryou "fly". All your energy is directed towards one of theseresponses. Cortisol is released and normally, this causes theenergy exerted in fighting or flying ito be replaced with anincrease in appetite. You are supposed to eat to replacethe energy burned.

However, in modern-day times, we are unable to follow throughwith the "fight or flight" response. Everything happens as it isdesigned to happen, except that instead of energy being burned,it is "stuffed" and we are left with an urge to eat.

So what can you do to stop emotional eating? I have founda very helpful book, "Lose It For Life" written by StephenArterburn and Dr. Linda Mintle, who suggest making a list ofalternate activities when you find yourself in such a situation,such as taking a walk, take three deep breaths or call a friend.One other very effective way to battle these urges is to pray.As a Christian, I find the strength I need to deal with myweakness is found in God.

Sometimes we turn to food out of loneliness or boredom. The sametechnique could apply. Talking to your friend or playing withyour dog could be infinitely more interesting than stuffing yourface with a cookie.

Copyright 2005 by Eunice Coughli