Emotional Eating Tips - Diet Difficulties, Excuses, and How to Tackle Them

If you want to eat it's possible to be very creative and find all sorts of reasons for overeating. These reasons are, of course, excuses. But sometimes we find ourselves in situations where it is very difficult to eat as healthily as we'd like.

Here are some practical tips for dealing with common dieting difficulties:

Diet Difficulty #1 - I have to go away on business

Work out the meals where you can be good and the meals where it is not worth trying. If you are having a celebration meal at the end of a course or project that's not the evening to go on your lettuce-leaf-only fast. But when it comes to the hotel breakfast you really don't need a huge fry up (complete with fried bread and black pudding) every day. Be good at breakfast, choose the muesli or fruit and yogurt so that it fits in with your diet plan!

Diet Difficulty #2 - It's a celebration

Whether business or personal, you don't have to be a misery at celebratory meals. It's okay for you to let your diet slip FOR THIS MEAL ONLY. It does not give you permission to abandon healthy eating forever. Do what the slim people do - overeat slightly when celebrating then be sensible the next day.

And you don't have to have chocolate pudding when you've already had two courses and a pre-dinner drink and wine. Then there's the coffee and liqueur and the little minty chocolate that comes with the coffee. Enjoy your meal, but the world will not end if you don't have all of these little (calorific) extras, so be aware of what you actually want to eat.

Diet Difficulty #3 - I'm visiting my in-laws/parent/boss

The same rules as for the celebration meal. But you also have to consider the hidden agendas here. If you have a "helpful" relative encouraging you to have "another helping, dear" or who says "only one won't hurt" be prepared for this. Think of what you are going to say if you genuinely are tempted but want to stick to your diet. Practice rubbing your full stomach, saying "I couldn't possibly, that was delicious" with a look of satisfied-but-full on your face. You may want to practice this in front of the mirror so you can act the part well - and when you do it for real, it may turn out to be true.

If they persist, you can escalate the acting and look pained if they suggest second helpings. This is a bit trickier with the boss, who may insist on second helpings. Inwardly remind yourself that you are too nervous to enjoy it and only a tiny second helping is needed. Here the social situation is a lot more difficult to decipher than the dietary one, so go carefully!

Diet Difficulty #4 - I feel like it/deserve it/have been looking forward to it

This is more the realm of emotional eating than dieting. If you really have been looking forward to a food and it consistently sabotages your diet efforts you'll need to take a look at why this should be so. But in the short term, when you have that treat, savour every mouthful, taste it, enjoy it and ask yourself to stop when you have had enough. If you can discover how to listen to your body it will tell you.

Diet Difficulty #5 - It's not the meals, it's the snacks

A lot of snacking is situational. Do you always have the crisps/chips when you settle down to watch TV? Do you have to pick up that chocolate on the way home for work (every night)? Is it obligatory to taste the children's food when cooking dinner? Has that large glass of wine you have while preparing supper become an essential part of the meal?

These are merely habits, and they can be dealt with effectively. Taking another route home from work; preselecting some low calorie snacks (choose them when you are not hungry, to be eaten later); take up knitting while you watch TV (melted chocolate and knitting do not go well together); cut down on TV time and do some exercise. These are just some of the ways you can counteract habits so think now of what you can do differently to get away from you bad food habits.

Here's wishing you dieting success and a healthy life.