When people hear the phrase ‘emotional eating’, there’s a tendency to associate it with crying over a tub of Ben & Jerries, or stress-munching your way through a pack of cookies. While it's common for people to turn to food for comfort as a way to cope with big, difficult feelings, there are many other situations where we might find ourselves eating emotionally. Have you ever attended a dinner where you end up having dessert just because everyone else is? Have you celebrated someone’s birthday and eaten a slice of cake despite being full? Have you snacked on something when you’ve been bored at work? These are some prime examples of how normalized emotional eating is in our society, but the impact it has on our mental and physical health can be detrimental.So how can we begin to tackle the problem of eating when we’re not physically hungry? In this episode, I’m walking you through the four phases of healing emotional eating and giving you five practical steps, from nutrition to mindset, that will help to get your emotional eating more under control.ReferencesFind out more about binge eating coach Jane Pilger’s principles here.Listen to Kathryn Hansen’s ‘Brain over Binge’ podcast here.Learn more about Jessie Inchauspé’s book ‘Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar’.Pull Quotes “In the beginning, expecting that you're only going to eat when you're hungry and that everything's going to go perfectly and you're going to have no emotional eating, you're really setting yourself up for failure. The goal isn't zero.” “If you want to bring down emotional eating, the biggest impact is going to be balancing your meals.”“Often by the time you're in that emotional eating zone, you're not thinking about how to support yourself. The work needs to be done before this time.”“What it usually comes down to is that you're really tired, really exhausted, and you don't know any other ways to take care of yourself besides making a snack at night. It gives you a little bit of that dopamine hit.”Audio Stamps03:20 - Dr. Rentea talks us through the four phases to healing emotional eating.08:20 - We learn why, when it comes to decreasing emotional hunger, the goal is not zero.10:16 - We find out how balancing meals can help us to control emotional eating.15:20 - Dr Rentea emphasizes the importance of having a plan and having options.19:34 - We discover why spending time not overeating, at a time when you used to, is key.22:54 - We learn why you should still expect and allow thoughts of emotional eating in your mind.23:54 - Dr. Rentea shares one of the easiest ways to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger.24:44 - We hear a recap of the 5 key steps to healing overeating.All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast. If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com