NIH study identifies the role of Emotional Eating as "significant"

The journal Obesity just published a study of 286 overweight men and women. They conclude that emotional eaters--individuals who report eating in response to thoughts and feelings--are more likely to regain the weight they lose. In a related study of 3345 adults, the authors found that individuals who eat because of internal reasons, such as feeling lonely or as a reward, lost less weight then the group of individuals who didn't eat to cope with internal feelings or thoughts.

“Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention to eating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play a significant role in weight loss. Current treatments provide minimal assistance with eating in response to feelings or thoughts," states Heather Niemeier, one of the obesity researchers from Brown University. She adds, “Modifying our treatments to address these triggers for unhealthy eating and help patients learn alternative strategies could improve their ability to maintain weight loss behaviors, even in the face of affective and cognitive difficulties.”

And that is why the Emotional Eating Toolbox (TM) is such a unique and important tool. The 28-day, self-guided study program helps you identify your own unique pattern of emotional eating. As you work through the steps of the Toolbox, your individual responses lead you through steps to define a concrete plan that addresses your specific eating patterns. Once people acquire the tools to take control of their emotional eating, eating for weight loss becomes so much less complicated. People who struggle with emotional eating already know that if you don't find a way to gain control of your emotional eating patterns, it really doesn't matter how many diet tips you learn. Because the why you eat is so much more powerful than the what you eat. Or, as a client recently told me, once you have the "why" under control, the "what" is just easier.

Take good care,

Melissa