Journaling for Emotional Eating

If you are someone who struggles with emotional eating, none of this will come as a 
surprise to you. You are already aware of the toll it can take on you, both mentally and 
physically.
With emotional eating, you are using food and the act of eating to deal with your 
emotions. It is often related to negative emotions like sadness, depression, stress, and 
boredom, however not always. One thing you might also experience is emotional eating 
when you are happy, excited, or trying to celebrate something.
No matter what type of emotional eating you are dealing with, you should know that 
there is help out there. But first, you need to understand that it isn’t a harmless habit. 
Many people look at it as not being that bad because you are not addicted to alcohol or 
an illegal substance, but this could not be further from the truth. Keep reading to learn 
more about emotional eating, then find out how using something as simple as a journal 
can help you move on from it.

1. Why Emotional Eating is so Damaging
You may think that emotional eating is harmless, but that is exactly what makes it 
dangerous. It can affect you on many different levels, both mentally and physically. 
Emotional eating can take its toll on your mental health gradually, where it is so subtle 
that you don’t realize it is a problem.
It is also possible that your emotional eating issues are related to other mental health 
disorders, such as binge eating disorder, bulimia, anxiety, depression, and so many 
others.
Here are some reasons why emotional eating can be dangerous for you:
It Can Cause Obesity and Make Weight Loss Difficult
Naturally, emotional eating often leads to gaining weight, and possibly obesity. There is 
a host of issues with gaining weight, starting with how you feel about yourself. It can be 
damaging to your self-esteem, and if you already struggle with feelings of self-worth, it 
might make it worse. 
Not everyone will experience issues with gaining weight as far as how they look, but 
what about how you feel? You may start knowing the physical changes in your body 
and that they make you uncomfortable, from bad joints and hurting knees, to stress 
when going shopping and many other problems.

Weight Gain Causes Other Health Issues
This isn’t just a problem because of aesthetic reasons, though it can definitely affect 
your self-esteem and mental health. Obesity can also be detrimental to your physical 
health. Again, this is not something everyone experiences, but if you are having trouble 
losing weight from your emotional eating, you might want to speak to a doctor about it.
Some health issues that may possible come up include:
Physical issues like arthritis or bad joints
High blood pressure or cholesterol
Heart disease
Heightened risk of heart attack or stroke
Higher risk of diabetes
You Develop an Unhealthy Relationship with Food
Emotional eating is also dangerous because you are developing an unhealthy 
relationship with food. This can lead to problems down the line about how you view 
food. You should be looking at food as fuel. Something that sustains you and nourishes 
your body. When you have this mindset, you are more likely to choose healthier options 
with lots of vitamins and minerals that your body needs to be healthy.
When you are emotionally eating, you don’t usually go for a banana or brown rice. 
Typically you are eating junk food, comfort food, or something you tend to binge on. 
Food that makes you feel good emotionally is rarely going to be good for you.
Over time, you start having this relationship with food where you feel it is like therapy. If 
you feel sad, food will help. If you are depressed, food will help. When you’re stressed, 
food will help. It is a dangerous pattern to start.
You Don’t Take Care of Your Emotional or Mental Issues
Another reason emotional eating is damaging to your mental health is because it keeps 
you from getting proper treatment. If you just turn to food every time you have a strong 
or negative emotion, you aren’t dealing with it. It is the same thing as someone who 
uses substances like drugs or alcohol to just cover up the symptoms, instead of finding 
healthier ways to manage them.
This is what brings us to journaling – a very powerful tool that will allow you to switch 
your mindset, deal with your negative emotions, and even figure out what is causing you 
to overeat or emotional eat in the first place.


2. Benefits of Using a Journal for Recovery
There are quite a few methods you can use to get a handle on your emotional eating, 
from deep breathing and distraction activities, to speaking to a mental health 
professional.
First of all, it is highly recommended that you get help for your emotional eating if you 
are unable to control it on your own.
But let’s go over using journaling for recovery. The journal is a very powerful thing, and 
something that is often underestimated. 
You are not just writing down what you did that day – though you can definitely take this 
approach. Journaling has gone far beyond what a diary might be, and is offering healing 
and recovery for many different bad habits, emotional issues, mental health disorders, 
and eating disorders. 
Why Using a Journal is Useful
If you’re still wondering how and why a journal can be beneficial for coping with 
emotional eating and someday recovering from it, consider the following benefits:
Journaling Provides a Good Distraction
An excellent benefit of journaling is that you have a good distraction. Sometimes, you 
just need to figure out a way to get past the current negative feelings or emotions you 
are dealing with to avoid eating your feelings. 
A great thing to do is just get out your journal and start writing. You don’t need to have a 
specific purpose or topic. Just write anything. This is often called ‘stream of 
consciousness’ journaling, where all you are doing is writing whatever comes to your 
head, with no rhyme or reason. 
Write in the journal until you start working past the emotions and no longer feel the need 
to eat your emotions or use food as a crutch for your problems. The more you do this, 
the more effective it becomes.
You Can Learn to Deal with Negative Emotions Without Food
Another reason journaling can help with emotional eating habits is that you are dealing 
with those negative emotions in another way. As we mentioned, emotional eating is 
keeping you from actually dealing with what you are going through, but instead is just 
covering your issues up. 
This is a temporary, unhealthy solution to an ongoing problem. You will not feel 
immediately better just because you ate your favorite junk food and the more you eat, 
such as in a binge, is not going to cure your stress or anxiety. 
Journaling lets you talk about exactly what is causing the stress, depression, sadness, 
or anger, so you can deal with the root cause of it without food.
Logging Your Food Can Be Eye-Opening
There is also another way to journal for emotional eating, which involves logging your 
food. We are going to talk about this more in-depth in the next section, but for now – this 
can be a big benefit. You are able to not only see what and how much you are eating, 
but WHY. 
Journaling is Very Therapeutic
Journaling is a therapeutic, healthy practice that will help more than just with your 
emotional eating. You may discover that it has helped in other areas of your life, by 
reducing your stress, helping you figure out what is causing your depression, or allowing 
you to come to self-realizations you hadn’t thought of before. It is something 
recommended to everyone, whether they eat emotionally or not.

3. Log All Your Food, Including Binges
By now, you understand about emotional eating, the dangers of this unhealthy habit, 
and why journaling can be so beneficial to you. Next, we want to go over one specific 
way to use your journal – logging your food. 
There are many ways to approach using a journal for emotional eating and other mental 
health issues. When it comes to food, including what you do or don’t eat, you first need 
to understand your eating habits.
It might seem like you already are aware of your eating habits, but just writing things 
down can be so eye-opening. Suddenly, you are more than aware of not only what you 
are eating, but how often, the nutrients (or lack of), and the situations surrounding those 
moments when you tend to overeat because of your emotions.
Start Logging Everything You Eat
In your journal that you are using to help with emotional eating, start logging everything 
you eat. Be as specific as you can, whether you just have a list of all your meals, or 
break it up into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Here are some general rules to 
follow in the journal log:
Write what you eat, describing it as much as possible.
Write down where you got the food (at work in the vending machine, at home, drive-
thru, etc).
Describe the quantity or amount you ate.
Write down all extras – including sauces, condiments, and anything you drink.
Have a section about WHY you ate something, especially if it was a type of binge or 
overeating. 
By logging your food in the journal, you are becoming more aware of what you eat, but 
you also find patterns on days when you tend to emotionally eat. This can help you start 
to realize the patterns and hopefully find healthier ways to cope.

4. Other Ways to Use Journaling
Writing in a journal can become a therapeutic tool when you need help with your 
emotional eating. It is not just about writing what you eat and figuring out your triggers, 
but really helping with whatever is causing this bad eating habit.
You will discover what it is causing stress, whether you have depression or anxiety 
symptoms, and what areas of your life need the most work.
Journaling can also be used for self-care, being part of a new morning routine with 
journaling, or becoming something that you use for mindfulness. 
Here is a list of some other ways to use journaling for your benefit:
Start a gratitude journal. Being grateful is very powerful, with gratitude journals being 
one of the most helpful for anyone, including people who are emotional eaters. Have a 
habit of showing what you are grateful for in your journal, and you will start to feel more 
positive and hopeful in your day-to-day life.
Write down notes for your therapist. A unique benefit to writing in a journal is that 
when you see your therapist or counselor, you already know what to talk about. You can 
choose to show it to them, or just use it as notes to recount emotions or feelings you 
had in the past.
Use it to express yourself creativity. Journaling also does not have to be just words 
on a page about how you are feeling. It can also be a tool for expressing your own 
creativity, especially when you feel you don’t get the opportunity in other areas of your 
life. Draw, sketch, color, paint, or even write poems or short stories in your journal.
Go out today and get a journal that you can start using to put a stop to your emotional 
eating and heal all areas of your mental health.
