How to Avoid Emotional Eating

(HealthDay News)—Do you come home from a stressful day at work and reach for a bag of chips, a pint of ice cream or a handful of cookies?

If that's the case, you may be "eating emotionally." This is often referred to by psychologists as counter-productive coping. It helps you manage stress in the short run, but in the long run it can lead to weight gain and possible health problems.

Consider these five tips to avoid eating emotionally:

1. Eat your meals sitting down. Don't ever eat standing up.

2. Don't skip meals. That only adds to your stress and makes you more likely to overeat later or grab junk food.

3. Drink lots of water. Water fills you up but it's calorie- and caffeine-free.

4. Keep a food/mood journal. Write down everything you put in your mouth for two weeks and the moods you were in before and after eating.

5. Exercise every day. Exercise not only lowers stress, it trims your waistline.

— James Porter, president of StressStop.com

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