One of the best things I’ve found to do when stress starts to take over my brain is to take deep breaths. It can be a hard habit to form but it works.

However, I don’t like it when people tell me to “take a deep breath”. It makes me want to consume 3 boxes of Edy’s Frozen Fruit bars right there in front of them.

It’s hard to take a deep breath sometimes. Panic is a big trigger for food addicts. To calm the panic, it helps to take long, quiet deep breaths, focusing only on the breathing and nothing else.

Many people with emotional eating challenges are so afraid of food that they panic when they feel hungry.

Hunger is a natural feeling in the human body but guilt skews the response for a food addict. It just feels wrong, like if you start eating you won’t be able to stop.

I was in that category. It was a Catch 22 situation. I was afraid of food and the control it had over my life. It was an explosion of emotion that compelled me to want to eat everything in sight, which sometimes I did.

I found a program that helped me lose my fear of food, and I’ll share that with you later. For now though, because you have to start somewhere, do this one simple thing.

Breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Don’t think of anything. Just focus on your breathing. Try 10 breaths, or 5 breaths, just once a day for a week.

It’s a simple action and, like most simple actions, you build on it. For a few brief moments, free your mind, open your heart, and breathe. Try it. What do you have to lose?

Maybe the panic? Or at least the feeling of panic.