December is a delicious time of year! There are family recipes that get baked, holiday parties with seasonal cocktails, and who is going to argue with an advent calendar that lets you have a piece of chocolate every day!

If you read the above and immediately felt overwhelmed (or like you’ll need to restrict your eating this time of year), STOP. This time of year, can be triggering for a lot of people, not only are all sorts of foods more available, eating until bursting is encouraged by family members and in the media, and stress if running high—hello mall shopping and family drama! This time of year is a rollercoaster that can have your emotional eating get the best of you.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Here are a few ideas on how you can challenge the holiday expectation to overeat, overexercise, overreact. 

• Trying eating food that you actually enjoy and tastes good to you. After a couple of days of gingerbread, you may find yourself wanting a more balanced meal.

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Take a deep breath. And another one.

Binges are full of emotions before, during, and after. Food has a way of giving us a sense of calm and numbness, but anyone who has eaten emotionally knows that the intense emotions that lead up to a binge and then the ones that follow after—guilt, shame—can leave you feeling so much worse than before any food was eaten.

Emotional eating is a common coping mechanism that many people use to manage everything from stress, to not getting enough sleep, to depression. While your mind may be telling you there is something shameful about emotional eating, the truth is that it is a sign that you are doing your best to manage everything life throws at you. And sometimes life can be overwhelming or scary or just plain crappy.

So, you’ve binged on all your favourite foods in an attempt to escape your negative feelings. As you slowly come out of the binge mentality and regret begins to blossom, take a moment to pull out your journal and try one or a few of t...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

Have you had a busy day at work, and you sit with some chips next to your computer, only to find yourself scraping the bottom of the bag without realizing it? Or maybe it is late at night and you’re in front of the TV and scooping from an ice cream pint until there isn’t a bite left?

Often those of us who binge eat will do so in a rushed way. This could look like hopping from sweet to salty and back to sweet again, or maybe it’s a panicked shopping spree at the corner store before up ending the bag of goodies in bed where you intend to indulge. Ultimately, we’re hoping the binge will give us some relief from how we’re feeling or create a false sense of control when it seems like eve...

We have all been there. Whether it is after binge eating the night before or a pair of pants no longer fits as we’d like them to or we’re out with friends and believe we’re the biggest body there, we have all had days where our body image is negative. Often a single day can become a few days, or a week, and it so often leads to (more) emotional eating.

It can be so easy to think that the solution to “snap out of it” would be to restrict your food intake and get in a long workout the next day (hands up if you’ve been there!). But this starts the restrict-binge emotional rollercoaster again—a ride we hate and want to get off of!

Here are 5 tips of things to do instead of beating yourself up with tasteless salads and torturous workouts:

1. Put on an outfit that you feel good in. This could mean your softest sweater, most flattering leggings, or your favourite dress, whatever is going to give you a little mood boost to see yourself and feel your body in. This is a way to show your body ...

How many of you are using your cell phone as your alarm clock? Hey, we’re guilty of it too! But looking at your screen—even if it’s just to hit the snooze button—can set your mind racing. There are many benefits to the technology we have access to, but constant screen and sound notifications, from texts to email to social media alerts, can divide your attention (hello mindless eating while scrolling!), shatter your focus on a specific task, and even skyrocket your anxiety. 

 So, what is the solution?

Let’s face it: we’re not going to get away from using technology. But we can set boundaries around how and when we use it. The key is to start small! We’ve already suggested how putting away your phone—even just 30 minutes—before bed can be beneficial. The next thing you can try is to add to this time little by little to create more of a buffer between the last time you looked at your phone and when your head hits the pillow. You can even try enabling the ‘do not disturb’ feature on your...

You’ve picked up a gorgeous new notebook, you have a specific pen you love the feel of. Finally, you have some quiet time to yourself, sitting down you open to that first blank page and… have no clue what to write!

We’ve previously given a few ideas on how to start journaling, but we know for ourselves that sometimes the words just won’t come. Either you’re distracted or have so much to say you don’t know where to start—both can feel overwhelming. So, here are a few ideas to get that ink flowing and fill up your pages. You don’t have to start with number one and work your way through all of the prompts, choose whichever you are called to write about. Or maybe reading one of the prompts gets you thinking about another topic you’d like to write on.

Remember: there is absolutely no wrong way to journal! Your notebook is truly your own space to be honest, vulnerable, funny, or sad.

These ideas below are to help you focus on things that are making you feel happy lately—even if you think ...

No, we don’t mean calling your emotional eating Bill or Angela (although if you think that might be helpful—go for it!), we suggest trying to name the emotion you’re feeling while reaching for food. Emotional eating is trying to satisfy a feeling with food that may make you feel good for a moment. Maybe that’s chips for you or maybe your sweet tooth calls for chocolate bars, no matter: when you find yourself reaching for these try and check in with naming what you are feeling.

You may start off by thinking “Am I angry? Or am I feeling sad?”. But these well-known emotions aren’t just the only ones you might come up with, emotions can be linked to each other and there can be a few layers. Other ones to think about that may be less obvious:

• If you’re angry, maybe you’re also feeling irritable or frustrated or jealous.
• If you’re sad, it could be that you’re feeling lonely or grieving or not good enough.
• If you’re nervous, think about if you’re also feeling embarrassed or confused ...

3 Causes for Nighttime Eating and Tips to Conquer It

Ok, if you’re reading this blog you must know 2 things. First, you’re certainly not the only one reading this blog. Second, you’re undoubtedly not the only one who struggles with overeating or binge eating at night. Breath a sigh of relief before you continue reading.  

Here’s what I’m hearing from other people about nighttime eating. See if you relate!

• “The evenings are the worse for me. I can’t stop snacking. I bounce from the fridge to the cupboard looking for anything sweet…but then sweet doesn’t cut it, I need salty after! I’m so good during the day but then blow it at night. I have no control”.

• “I snack way too much at night! I wait for my husband to go to bed so I can watch TV and eat my snacks alone, in peace – it’s MY TIME. I feel resentful when my husband stays up later than usual and I have to wait to eat my snacks. I also get really annoyed and irritated when my kids don’t go to bed on time and my precious ...