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College is stressful. If you have never experienced stress in college, you might want to start taking school a tad more seriously (lol). Exams, deadlines, job searches, interviews, and responsibilities easily pile up and run students to the ground. 

It’s easy to turn to the mini fridge for comfort during late night study sessions. It’s tempting to grab ALL the muffins in the dining hall as you anxiously prepare for a physics exam. Many people find it tempting to turn to the bottle to let loose.

These patterns of consumption aren’t healthy; they are fueled by emotional discomfort. When we act out of emotional discomfort, we tend to make irrational decisions that we later regret.

These behaviors can easily turn toxic. Because they are so pervasive, I wanted to share  five ways to stop emotional eating in college.

Tips to Stop Emotional Eating

Recognize Your Tendencies

It is always important to eat to your fulfillment, ensuring that you are giving your body the nutrients and calories it needs to thrive!

BUT emotional eating, eating simply to suppress an emotion, can wreck your hypothalamus (and ability to sense hunger cues).

In the beginning, it’s hard to spot that there is an issue. However, once you accept it you will start to see the signs.

Related-> How to Eat Healthy in College

There are always certain situations where the hand reaches for food without seemingly consulting the brain. Individually, we all have different patterns and habits we turn to for comfort.

Maybe you tend to eat ALL the chips you aren’t hungry for when 11 P.M. sleepy state strikes. Or maybe you’re tempted to overeat before big events or assignments out of nerves and anxiety.

Recognizing the emotional eating patterns you have is essential to fighting these patterns.

Wanna start a healthy lifestyle but don’t know where to begin? I FEEL YA! I’ve been there- and I’ve unfortunately fallen into extremes in the pursuit of health. I wanna help you avoid that, so I created a guide on How to Start a Balanced Health Journey. Check it out!

Time Management

Many students don’t stick to normal mealtimes. Constantly fluctuating between states of feasting and famine, it’s easy for students to turn to greasy and empty calorie foods when their hunger is peaking. 

If you make note of when you get hungry and when you should be eating, you won’t experience severe hunger and likely won’t give in to high calorie (and nutritionally void) foods.

Many students claim that they  don’t have “time to eat healthy”, and that the convenience of fast food is simply more compatible with their schedule…..But if you always carry around some nourishing high protein snacks and do some light meal prep for the week, you  will find that going and buying fast food is actually less convenient!

Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of actually thinking before doing. Uncovering your intention behind what you want to do before doing it will lead you to more prudent decisions.

Asking yourself if you are truly hungry before eating is a great way to check your intentions and practice this mindfulness. 

Find a Stress Relief

The relationship isn’t going to get healthier until you find a way to release the negative energy. Find an activity that is cathartic and that you can do whenever you feel stress or any other overwhelming emotion building up.  

Try meditation- it’s a great way to center yourself and block out the world!  This article can help with the knick-knacks. The gist is to breathe deeply and clear the mind while sitting up straight. That way, both the body and mind will be at one. Alternatives are available but this is basic and not time-consuming.

Get in Some ZZZs

How often do you find yourself and your peers in the library working hard well into the night? Let me guess- TOO OFTEN! However, the act of studying into the wee hours is unhealthy also because it encourages sleep deprivation.

Without enough Zs, you’ll feel fatigued and won’t be able to resist junk food when you’re hungry.

Seven to nine hours a night, although difficult to achieve, ensures you’ll take the time to be healthy, or healthier than usual!