What are Your Eating Triggers?

Have you ever thought about why you eat? We had a cupcake frenzy at work last week, so that got me to thinking about eating triggers. Often times we eat  when we aren’t hungry. But something triggers you to eat. When it comes to meeting our health goals, whether it be to lose weight, improve overall health, or deal with a medical issue, it’s really important to be aware of what triggers you to eat. You can then come up with a plan as how to outsmart these triggers.  Read on to watch my cupcake feeding frenzy video and learn some tips on how to handle your eating triggers.

Nutritionists Gone Wild over Cupcakes Video
Last week, my nutrition co-workers and I took part in a cupcake frenzy. As I was eating the cupcake, I realized I wasn’t remotely hungry and really didn’t even want it, yet I ate it. Why? Because they were a “gift” from management for working hard during Hurricane Sandy, my coworkers were eating them and they were right in front of me. Talk about major eating triggers! While there is nothing wrong with having a cupcake on occasion, if you fall prey to your eating triggers daily, you’ll soon have to buy new clothes …

My eating triggers
An eating trigger is anything that causes you to eat. Of course, we should all eat when we are hungry. But it’s the other eating triggers that can be problematic. Triggers can occur from feelings or emotions, the sight or smell of food, watching others eat (like in TV commercials), having tempting food in your environment,  etc. Here are some of my triggers:
– Feeling stressed or anxious or overwhelmed (often when I have too much work to do).
– Going too long without eating. I don’t feel hungry, yet all of a sudden I am ravenous and no amount of food satisfies me
– Having a few alcoholic drinks sends my cravings for sweets sky high – even if I just ate a full meal
– Having tempting sweets in front of me (while I didn’t film myself eating cupcakes, I was …)

Identify your triggers
Chances are that you know what your eating triggers are. But sometime you don’t –  so I would recommend that you keep a food  journal for a week or two. Write down what you eat, your degree of hunger and any relevant emotion that you are feeling. Here are some eating triggers that I’ve heard from my clients (no names mentioned of course)
– co-worker keeps candy on her desk …only 5 feet away from your desk
– drug reps bring fresh donuts for the office staff
– your morning coffee place sells delicious croissants
– your boyfriend keeps his tempting snacks in the house (pic is of my bf who has been forbidden to leave any tempting snacks in my apartment! I learned my lesson after the “nut incident”)
– both you and your wife are too tired to cook and your take-out options are loaded with fat and calories

Come up with a solution to your triggers
We are all intelligent people and have the ability to function in our lives. We handle major projects at work and life crises. So why do we have trouble handling an eating trigger? I think it’s because we feel overwhelmed with our busy lives and don’t take the time to identify ONE trigger and come up with several solutions. Either we don’t really think about it or feel hopeless that it is out of our hands. But you do have control!  I’m sure most of you have more one trigger. But the trick is to focus on one at a time. Once you feel confident that you can handle that one, move on to the next.

* FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME ONE OF YOUR EATING  TRIGGERS AND I WILL HELP YOU COME UP WITH A SOLUTION … But remember, focus on one trigger at a time

If you enjoy watching nutritionists eat cupcakes, check out this video take last year (again of my co-workers)