Putting a kabosh to emotional eating is not the easiest thing in the world. Especially if you’ve connected eating with love, joy, boredom, stress or procrastination.

You may want to use these 3 exercises to put the kabosh on emotional eating:

1. Plan – It is necessary to break the habit of overeating. Have you ever found yourself coming home from work, sticking your head into the refrigerator looking for some comfort? If you create a new plan of attack, you can avoid this situation entirely. I used to look forward to coming home from work, picking up a bag of chips and dropping onto the couch. As I slimmed down, I now look forward to a different plan or picture. That is, I now look forward to plunging myself onto the couch, wrapping up in a blanket, watching tv and grabbing a cup of soothing tea. I love my new plan and so does my new body.

2. Pause – Isn’t it true- the moment the crave hits, its nearly impossible to get in the middle of overeating. That’s how powerful your mind is! The desire for food becomes so intense that getting in the middle, is like getting in the middle of monster. Set the timer and make a game of it. Go do something fun to take your mind off things for five minutes. Research shows that if you can wait it out for 5-15 minutes, in all likelihood your craving will pass.

3. Put it to Pen – At the top of a page write the title; “What Do I Need?” We all know that emotional eating is not about needing nourishment but something more. Let the words flow, don’t edit a thing. In the beginning this may not make sense, but you’ll find meaning regarding what you need. By writing it out, you may discover the need for love, feeling out of control and stressed, or my favorite, wanting to relax and do nothing. Having determined what you need, write down how your needs can be met. In my example, I want to relax and do nothing, so I will. If right now isn’t the appropriate time, I will plan to do nothing in a few hours so my needs will be met. Writing in itself can be relaxing so it is the perfect method of easing emotional eating while finding out how you really feel. Writing in this method will also give you a lot of insight into the nature of your wants and desires allowing you to better meet those needs.

With a plan that you follow, you will be successful.