Many people struggle to control their weight. While exercise can be part of maintaining a healthy body mass, the food you eat is just as, if not more, important. Overeating can be a major contributor to weight gain, and learning to avoid emotional overeating can be an important tool in your wellness arsenal. Here are four things an emotional eating course can help you do.

1. Learn the difference between hunger and the desire to eat

Bodies are designed to make their needs known. When you feel hungry, your body is sending you a signal that it's time to eat. However, people who habitually overeat may not recognize hunger signals for what they are. An emotional eating course can teach you to differentiate the desire for food from genuine hunger. This type of training course can help you get in touch with your body so you can better tend to its needs. 

2. Discover your emotional eating triggers

People who are emotional eaters tend to have emotional triggers that cause them to overeat. Identifying these triggers can help you prepare to safeguard against them. For instance, some people engage in emotional eating when they feel lonely or rejected. An emotional eating course can teach you to reach out to friends instead of eating when you feel this way. No two people are exactly alike, so your emotional eating triggers may be different than someone else's. By deeply investigating your own feelings and past, you can identify your triggers and come up with an action plan to combat them.

3. Learn alternative coping mechanisms

Simply identifying your emotions and emotional eating triggers isn't enough to curb your emotional eating. Whenever one coping mechanism is removed, another must take its place. That's why emotional eating courses strive to equip students with alternative coping mechanisms that can be used to promote physical health and mental wellness. Exercising, journaling, going for a walk in your neighborhood, or distracting yourself with a good book can help you take your mind off the things that trouble you. Your emotional eating instructor may encourage you to try many coping mechanisms until you find the ones that work best.

4. Get rid of food-related shame

Finally, an emotional eating course can help you get rid of food-related shame. Many people who are emotional eaters struggle with body image issues. By decoupling the act of eating from self-judgment, you can develop a healthier relationship with your body and your food.

For more information, reach out to an emotional eating coaching course near you.