An important step in dealing with emotional eating is to get to know your body's hunger signals.
ave you ever noticed that we eat when we're "supposed to" from early on? Lunch time at school means that's when you eat. Same goes for work.
Try listening to your body and eat when you're hungry instead of when you're supposed to. True hunger actually feels like a mild gnawing sensation in the gut.
To find out if you're feeling a craving or getting hungry, give the urge to eat a 10-minute waiting period. If you've moved on to doing something and you suddenly realized you're not hungry, it was a craving; if the urge to eat is still there, chances are you're getting peckish.
I'm not saying you should wait until you're famished to eat -- that could lead to a binge. But by breaking yourself of eating when habit, the clock, or your best friend says it's time to eat again, you will reacquaint your body to eating in response to hunger rather than outside cues -- whether those cues are the time on the clock or your feelings this evening when you're alone.
