Emotional Eating Treatment
Emotional Eating Treatment in Greenwich, Darien, Westport, Westchester, and Surrounding Areas in Connecticut and New York.
What is emotional eating?
Emotional/stress eating is using food to make yourself feel better rather than due to physical hunger. Many people who engage in emotional eating eat to cope with stress, boredom, sadness, anxiety, and anger. Emotional eating can (temporarily) numb these feelings. However, emotional eating leaves you feeling worse, with feelings of guilt and shame. Furthermore, engaging in emotional/stress eating doesn't solve the actual problem. Some people also use food as a reward or in response to positive emotions.
How do you treat emotional eating?
We treat emotional eating using Mindfulness and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) strategies to help you regulate your emotions in more adaptive ways. We will work with you to help you become more aware and accepting of your emotions, help you cope with difficult emotions in more adaptive ways, help you become more aware of hunger and fullness cues, distinguish physical from emotional hunger, help you indulge without overeating by savoring and mindfully eating food, and teach you strategies to "ride out" cravings and urges.
What experience do you have treating stress/emotional eating?
Dr. Sala has extensive training in treating stress and emotional eating, including experience at inpatient eating disorder units and a decade-long research career working with leaders in the field. Dr. Sala is the Director of the Mindfulness, Eating Disorders, and Acceptance Lab (MEAL) at Yeshiva University, where she conducts eating disorder treatment research. Please contact her to learn more about her experience.