I have read several books that give all kinds of tips for getting over a food addiction. Most of them are geared to losing weight. That’s all well and good but I have to wonder if many of these authors have ever had a food addiction.

Emotional eating is a problem for many women today. It may be for men too, but I cannot speak for them. I hear women saying that they were not helped by this tip or that tip, or they couldn’t stay on a diet long enough to lose weight (who can), or they just don’t know how to stop eating. That last one isn’t going to work for anybody.

I can only say this. If you do not get to the heart of the stress that is causing you to eat uncontrollably, then you will not be able to let go of the food addiction.

There are many triggers. Keep a journal of when you pig out, not when you eat but after you pig out. What specifically happened that made you start stuffing down your feelings?

How do you feel about it? What time of day was it? Were you tired, frustrated, angry? What emotion drove the behavior that sent you reeling out of control for those moments, or hours?

How long did you eat? What did you eat? Were you exhausted from not enough sleep the past few nights and the local drugstore had a BOGO special on candy corn? Did you crave pasta or bread? Did you eat ice cream?

If you will keep a journal of just these things, you will start to uncover the hidden secrets that create your food addiction. You don’t have to journal every day. Do that in another journal.

Only journal when you overeat, not at a meal but when you drop what you are doing and head for the comfort food. Remember to answer all the questions. I will talk about this again in more detail in a later post or an article.

You will find that you have a trigger time, maybe in the morning or afternoon or the evening. My freedom time is in the morning. I NEVER have a problem with food addiction in the morning.

Food addictions are associated with a particular emotion at a particular time and a particular food or food type.

The journal is the key. Start recording today. This must be written down in your own handwriting. As a writer, I learned that you can type anything but the emotional stuff. That always works out better when you write it yourself.

Now, more on this later. Have a wonderful day and get your pen or pencil ready. Make sure you take your food addiction journal with you wherever you go. It doesn’t have to be on your person, but it should be easily accessible.

Let me know how it goes.