How to cope with emotional eating

Emotional eating is a top challenge when it comes to losing weight. It's hard resist cravings when you're bored, stressed, lonely or sad. Michael Roizen, MD, offers a tip that can help you get a handle on emotional health.

Transcript

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[MUSIC PLAYING] When deadline stress makes you crave chips, imagine putting those, "I'll never finish,"

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feelings on a conveyor belt and watching them as they roll away. They get smaller and smaller, and then they disappear.

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Dr. Mike Roizen here with a simple, smart weight loss tip that really works. Emotional eating is the top challenge

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when it comes to losing weight. Noshing when you're bored, stressed, lonely, sad, even if your team doesn't score a touchdown or the other team

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does, those things are harder to resist than a fluffy puppy. If you can learn how to handle emotional eating, the path

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to a slimmer, healthier you will be a lot smoother and easier. One technique-- the virtual conveyor belt. When deadlines

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stress makes you crave chips, imagine putting those, "I'll never finish" feelings

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on a conveyor belt and watching them as they roll away. They get smaller and smaller, and then they disappear.

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What you're really dealing with isn't just your deadline. It's at least five brain chemicals that trigger eating urges when you're feeling down, wired,

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or wrung out. You know when you're in the grip-- when you crave just one type of food and when the urges aren't from your tummy growling.

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You want to be soothed or numbed or given a shot of well-being. If the conveyor belt doesn't work,

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try proven emotional raisers like exercise and yoga, or take a nap. Sleep rejuvenates neurons in your brain

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that release feel-good brain chemicals so you're less likely to reach for those potato chips.