Emotional eating affects many people, young and old. Usually starting with a little overeating, which in turn becomes habit forming. Generally speaking emotional eating is when you eat food to satisfy an emotional need. Have you ever experienced a time when you felt sad, stressed, depressed or overwhelmend and felt the need to turn to food? Then you may be an emotional eater.

Eating to satisfy your emotions occurs because foods tends to give us a happy feeling, a short term sense of fullness and fulfillment, and a sense of satisfaction. Unfortunately this is short lived and many people often find that because the need wasn't met with food - they will seek out the next comfort food and hope this does the job.

The biggest problem with this is that you end up feeling worse than you did in the beginning because you have overeaten and your feelings or emotions have still not been healed. This is one of several reasons many people all over the world have weight issues because they are simply emotional eaters.

So how can you stop yourself from being an emotional eater? First of all you need to ask yourself the honest question whenever you have a desire of craving for a food - is it because you are actually hungry or is it because something has happened that has made you want to reach for that bag of chips?

Recognising your hunger for what it really is can be quite difficult - especially if you have been an emotional eater for some time. Learn to understand what triggers your need to eat, look at what is happening at this time in your life. Note down the times and days you have these feelings to see if there is some kind of pattern. Make sure your fridge and pantry is stocked with healthy foods, and get plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Lastly an important factor is to seek comfort from someone you can talk to - so instead of turning to food, turn to a trusted friend whenever you feel the need to overeat. Emotional eating is not an easy thing to overcome - in fact it is very difficult. BUT it can be done. By doing as I have mentioned above you will be on your way to successfully and permanently eliminating this problem.

My name is jason Toomey and I have helped many people overcome their weight issues. Go to http://www.loosebodyfat.thesecret2greatabs.com for more information.