Do you suffer with “Kuchisabishii”? When you eat even when you’re not hungry because your mouth is ‘lonely’

We very rarely feel true hunger these days. Instead we are often ruled by emotional hunger which is often not satisfied by food, however much we eat. The concept of ‘eating your emotions’ or as the Japanese saying goes not wanting our mouth to be ‘lonely’.

Do you eat for any of these reasons?
boredom
reward
anxiety
sadness
fear
loneliness
commiseration

These are classic emotional eating cues which are very different to physical hunger which builds gradually, is satisfied by eating, occurs after a time has past since your last meal.

The way I approach rewiring our feelings of emotional hunger is to stay one step ahead of those emotional rollercoasters where feelings of guilt or shame or self-criticism are high.

How?
✅Just acknowledging it’s happening is a great starting point. Often emotional eating happens at a similar time everyday so often by mixing up the routine, you can change up the reward cue.
🍭Blood sugar control is very important – protein rich foods with every meal and snack will help 💪
🍰Staying one step ahead of cravings by buying in more helpful snacks like: falafels, trail mix, dark chocolate (dark chcolate covered brazil nuts are immense!), sachets of miso soup, hummus, rice cakes, leftovers….
☕️Fresh mint or sliced ginger and lemon tea for 11s and 4s tea breaks to break the association with tea and biscuits…
🍳Eat your evening meal earlier so you feel hungrier on waking to eat more brekkie to help remove energy dips mid AM and mid PM – tomorrow starts today!
🥇Don’t put junk food on a pedestal – reframe that word ‘treat’.
🚲Include non food related indulgences such as an epsom bath, a massage or walk with a sunny friend.

I’m very much about a little of what you fancy and no guilt please (we have enough of that as women/mothers) but the key is to be mindful whilst eating it so that we can enjoy being more in control 🙏