Emotional eating is normal, and by that I mean that most of us do it. Why? Because it works. Eating  lights up brightly the reward centers of our brain, helping us to feel better. The thing is, the relief is temporary because eating doesn’t actually address the underlying emotion that caused us to reach for food as comfort. After the feel-good effects of eating wear off, the original emotions can come flooding back along with other negative emotions, such as guilt and shame, for having used eating as a coping. 

November is stick season here in Vermont. We’ve lost the beautiful fall foliage that people from all over the world come to immerse themselves in yet the snows of winter haven’t yet blanketed the ground bringing ski tourists to town. The days are darker, colder. The skies are moody (November is our cloudiest month). We may be moody too. 

Combine moodiness with holiday season stressors plus a surge in social gatherings, add in sweet treats everywhere around us, and it is a recipe for emotional eating. 

As a dietitian who does health coaching professionally, I frequently help people explore a healthier relationship with food and mood, especially when they find themselves turning first, only or often to food in order to feel better. I mentioned at the start that food (especially those high in sugar and fat … like in cookies) lights up our brain reward centers like a floodlight. So, if we are going to try non-food approaches, we usually need several strategies to equal the reward food brings to the brain. We may need to take a walk, listen to music and color a mandala to allow the emotion to surge and the urge to pass. It’s like stringing up Christmas lights. You will need multiple little twinkle lights activities if you turn off or dim down the lightbulb of eating. 

The flow I invite people to experiment with when they feel like eating emotionally is to first do several alternative activities (twinkle lights). If there is still an urge to eat after three ‘twinkle lights’, go ahead and eat a portion of the food you desire mindfully and in moderation. Check in: Am I soothed enough? If you still want to eat more (remember you’ve already determined this isn’t physical hunger but an emotional reason for wanting to eat), go back to doing several non-food activities first. Continue this cycle until feeling soothed enough. 

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (NIV). Reminding ourselves of God’s loving presence doesn’t usually surface as a twinkle light strategy when people are brainstorming activities they could try instead of eating emotionally. I wonder, though, what if it did? What if turning to God was first on the list of go-to coping strategies for emotions? Could the compassion of God be a floodlight of comfort even brighter than food, bypassing the brain going right to the heart where the emotion is emerging from? Headed into the holidays, I’ll probably have a chance to try this out. And I’ll be eating cookies, mindfully and in moderation, most of the time. 

Recipe: Hermit cookies

This old-fashioned recipe from New England dating back to the 1800s may remind you of a soft gingerbread cookie. Enjoy mindfully and in moderation.          

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger 
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup sugar or light brown sugar
• ½ cup canola oil or softened butter
• ½ cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 cup raisins

 Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
3. In a large bowl, stir sugar and oil (or butter) together. Mix in molasses and egg.
4. Add dry ingredients into wet. Stir until combined. 
5. Mix in raisins.
6. Oil a 9 x 13-inch pan. Spread dough evenly in pan and pat down.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. While still warm, cut into 24 bars, but leave in the pan. Allow to cool completely before serving.