I was working with my client last week. She has struggled with emotional eating for years. When she’s upset, had a rough day or even excited, she reaches for food.

Emotion eating is a challenge for many people. The feelings of sadness, loneliness, anxiety, overwhelm and even joy can become a trigger to overeat. Many of my clients describe the feelings as “bubbling up” and when they really stop to “feel” the feelings they can see that they’re using food to suppress feelings that are uncomfortable. Eating has become a coping skill – using food to “push down” the emotions.

As she and I were talking about her challenge with emotional eating, I asked her to describe the experience. She started telling me that she either walks in the door and heads for the kitchen, or she’ll be watching TV and suddenly be craving food when she’s not even hungry. When she heard herself talking about this she realized that there were really only two times that she really struggled with this habit and in her mind it seemed much more manageable.

I asked her what she could do instead of reaching for food at these moments.

She had a brilliant idea! She decided to make a 5-minute list.

You know all the little chores around the kitchen and the house? Little things like wiping-out the silverware drawer, sorting the mail on the kitchen counter and sifting through the mess in the junk-drawer take about 5 minutes. We started a 5-minute list and she committed to doing at least one thing from her 5-minute list before she reached for the food.

I suspect my client is having a great week. The feeling of accomplishment from one of these little chores will keep her on-track to her goals!