Eating Triggers

Eating triggers fill your environment. No matter how hard you work to develop healthy diet habits, you will still have to contend with food triggers. It is hard to go through the day without being triggered to eat. There is the work break room loaded with goodies, donuts again, and the dreaded snack machine that calls your name. There’s the endless candy bowl on your office mate’s desk, followed by the free sodas that your company provides. Your favorite fast food waits on every corner, which type will you have today?

An eating trigger is anything that causes you to lose control of your eating, and it does not take much in today’s world for you to give up, and give in to your triggers! They are everywhere!

Types of Eating Triggers

Some types of triggers are:

• Biological triggers: hunger, thirst, cravings brought on by your hormones.


• Environmental triggers: seeing or smelling food, seeing television commercials.


• Emotional triggers: stress, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, boredom, happiness, excitement.


• Social triggers: being offered food or being around other people eating in social situations.


• Mental triggers: thinking about food, imagining food, and the good and bad food memories.


• Trigger foods: a specific food or type of food that you can never resist, maybe chocolate, breads or salty snacks.


• Trigger situations: a situation that you always associate with food, like movies, sports events, or any party.


• Trigger times: certain times of the day or week are difficult, usually from the late afternoon into the evening.


• Behavioral triggers: skipping meals, meal finishers, or grazing.

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These are just a few of the major triggers that can cause you to overeat! The problem with triggers, is they can cause a pattern of eating that can then turn into an unhealthy diet habit. Maybe you started snacking once a week watching your favorite television show, but now you snack each time you watch television. See Mindless Eating!

Is there hope, if triggers are everywhere? Once again you would need to develop some great Lifestyle Solutions by:

1. Avoiding Eating Triggers:


2. Tracking your triggers and identifying them. What are your triggers?


3. Tackling your triggers and developing great strategies or eating patterns to eliminate, reduce or distract yourself and developing new ways to cope besides eating!



4. Understanding Food Triggers:


1. Box it In - keep your food trigger in your life in a controlled way


2. Box it Out - eliminate your food trigger, because it does not work for you.

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Your eating triggers can be managed by developing great Lifestyle Solutions, and healthy diet habits!