Emotional overeating differs from hunger in a key area, which states that eating is the result of a negative emotion such as sadness, anger, anxiety, boredom, and not by the instinct of survival. This behavior most often leads to guilt, that adds yet another negative emotion and in this way the person is driven to a vicious circle, in which it is very difficult to disengage, resulting in weight gain.

You can easily distinguish it from the biological hunger if you pay attention to the following: it suddenly comes from nowhere and it is not scaled, the desire is mainly for fatty foods and chocolates. Very basic is that it can continue after the saturation and finally follows the sense of guilt that complements the ritual.

Useful practices to reduce emotional eating are:

• Food logbook, here you will not only record the type of food, but it is very important to record your thoughts and feelings before and after the episode. So after a while you will be able to recognize the extent and size of the problem with evidence.
• If you end up eating for emotional reasons, it is important to focus and relieve the negative emotion. Focus on yourself, observe it and recognize the negative thoughts that led you to negative emotions and ultimately to eating. Here, after the negative thoughts are recognized, they are challenged by the individual and put in place positive thoughts that will balance your feeling.
• Also clarify if the dominant feeling that leads you to this act is boredom and find alternative and pleasant ways to rein in it. A phone to a good friend or your favorite hobby will help you distract yourself from eating, which is one of our main goals.
•  A very helpful technique is the gradual increase in the time to feed. That is, whenever you feel that you want to consume food, try to delay it for 5 minutes and gradually increase this time to 10 - 15 minutes and so on. You could combine this and achieve better results with a job as mentioned above with the primary purpose of distraction.

If all of these do not help, then apply the ancient Greek phrase «The non-inferior optimum". To implement this we must be prepared and have at home alternative choices that do not bring calories and are nutritionally sound and healthy. Try chewing a chewing gum or eating a calorie-free beverage or, finally, eating some healthy snacks such as a fruit or vegetable stick.

 But the key to finding an effective solution to emotional overeating is to cope with your anxiety and other unpleasant feelings caused by it. Initially try with relaxation techniques; also yoga and physical exercise are proven effective methods for dealing with anxiety.

If you see that none of the above techniques helped you to cope with emotional overeating and there is also a noticeable increase in your weight then it would be good to visit a mental health specialist.

Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy is one of the most effective treatment models for this problem, because it focuses on the present problem, it usually has a short duration and helps the individual to reconstruct his thinking with an educational way. In a nutshell, the person learns to be the healer of him/her, applying some techniques he/she has learned during therapy with the ultimate purpose of using them after the end of the sessions.