h, December -- the peak of the holiday season. Ironically, this is the time of the year when many people hit their lowest point emotionally. Holidays can be a very stressful time for many different reasons. Many people feel lonely, others feel over-extended, while some feel sad or even anxious. We all have different coping mechanisms for dealing with these negative emotions and, unfortunately, many people turn to food to comfort themselves. This practice is called emotional eating. Emotional eating is defined as eating in response to emotional cues rather than true physical hunger. These emotional cues are usually negative (feeling sad, lonely, embarrassed, etc.), but they could also be positive emotions (feeling celebratory, convivial, happy, etc.). Do you think you could be an emotional eater? Answer the following three questions to find out:

1. 1. Do you reward yourself with food?
2. 2. Do you comfort yourself with food?
3. 3. Do you use food to unwind or calm yourself down?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may be an emotional eater. The truth is that everyone is an emotional eater from time to time. Even I reward myself with a piece of chocolate occasionally. Is this a behavior to be concerned about? It would be if I ate a whole box of chocolate rather than just one piece. When your rewards surpass moderation and move into the excessive category, then you have probably crossed over into emotional eating.

Emotional eating is a poor coping mechanism for many reasons. One significant reason is that it usually leads to overeating and weight gain. Most emotional eaters struggle with their weight and find that until they get their emotional eating under control, a healthy weight is impossible to maintain. Another reason is that emotional eating is a vicious cycle; you eat to suppress a negative emotion, but that suppression is only temporary. Once the "food high" wears off, you are left with those same bad feelings plus feelings of guilt and self-judgment, which in turn lead you to eat again. Finally, eating is not a constructive way of dealing with your problems. Food is only a temporary distraction from dealing with the serious issues with which you may be grappling.

You do have the power to change your eating behavior. Taking control of your emotional eating will give you a sense of accomplishment and help boost your self-esteem. If you feel that you are ready to take on your emotional eating and break the cycle this December, then read on for strategies that can help free you from this self-destructive practice.

♦ Have a plan.

When you sense that you are gearing up for some mind-numbing munching, have a defense plan in place that will help lure you away from eating. I love the idea of converting a cookie jar into an activity jar filled with scraps of paper that list different short, fun, healthful, and relaxing activities. Write one activity per paper, such as take a bath, walk around the block, do 50 crunches, practice breathing for three minutes, drink a glass of water, play with your pet for five minutes and read a chapter in a book. When you want to climb into your cookie jar, head for the activity jar instead. A change of scenery is definitely in order, so make sure your activities take place outside of the kitchen.

♦ Learn to recognize physical hunger.

Begin to use the hunger scale to rate your hunger and satiety. The scale ranges from 1 to 5 where 1=very hungry, 2=somewhat hungry, 3=comfortable, 4=comfortably full and 5=very full. Every time you're about to eat, rate your hunger. The goal should be to always stay between a 2 and a 4, without going to either extreme. If you eat when you're a 1, then you've waited too long to evaluate your hunger. If you eat when you're a 4 or a 5, then you're practicing mindless munching. The purpose of the hunger scale is to help get you back in touch with your physical hunger rather than your emotional hunger. We are all born with the innate ability to regulate our appetites, but years of overeating, restricting and dieting have removed us from our sense of hunger and satiety. Combine the hunger scale with some mindfulness to help yourself start listening to your body. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. This will take a lot of work because it requires really getting in touch with your body and listening to it each moment, while doing away with your self-judgments and rationalizations. Learn to dislike the physical feeling of over-feeding yourself. Take the time to savor every aspect of your meals: the colors, aromas, textures, and flavors (this will require turning off the television).

♦ Keep a food journal.

Keeping a food journal can help you identify emotional eating and other eating patterns, like the times of day when you're most hungry and the times when you're not hungry but you still eat. It has been proven that people who use food journals are more successful at changing their eating behaviors and they have an easier time losing weight and keeping it off. The best way to use your journal is to write down the time you eat, what you eat, how much you eat, your hunger scale rating before and after you eat and how you are feeling emotionally and physically when you begin to eat. Journaling forces you to "own" your behavior and the foods you eat. Once you identify your emotional eating times, plan a different activity, like a brisk walk, for that time of day. Pay attention and learn to recognize the circumstances under which you're not actually hungry but you want to eat. You can also use a journal to help you identify specific activities that are eating triggers, such as watching TV, talking on the phone or eating with a certain person. Once you identify your eating triggers, go back to the "have a plan" section and work on your defense.

♦ Seek psychological counseling.

Psychotherapy is not for everyone, but it may be necessary to help you break out of the emotional eating cycle. A therapist can offer guidance and support for dealing with all of the scary issues and feelings that are being buried under food. The insights of an impartial person might be just what you need to start exploring (and changing) those chaotic emotions.

♦ Get adequate exercise.

One great strategy for getting in touch with your appetite is to get in touch with your body. Exercise can help relieve stress and possibly feelings of anger and aggression. It's also a great boredom fighter and certain activities can reduce loneliness if they are group or team events or if they take place at a gym. Another benefit is that exercise not only burns calories, but regular exercisers tend to eat fewer calories overall. It seems that exercise is a natural appetite suppressant. Meditation and yoga (a moving meditation) are excellent ways to relieve the emotions that lead to emotional eating. Mind-body techniques such as these are helpful for increasing self-awareness, meaning they can help you get in touch with your true feelings of hunger and satiety.

♦ Get adequate sleep.

Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier and it weakens your resolve to eat well. We all know from experience that exhaustion will lower your standards for the types of food you will allow to pass through your lips. When you are well-rested, however, you will be much more likely to have the energy to fight your emotional eating urges and employ your defensive strategies.

♦ Empower yourself with knowledge about healthy eating.

Try to bring balance to every meal that you eat. Include at least two servings of produce, one serving of whole grains, one serving of protein, and a little bit of healthy fat at each meal. Eating well nourishes your body and your soul, which is important for building a sense of pride and self-respect. Another benefit of eating healthful, balanced meals is that your physical hunger is minimized, which in turn can help you better defend yourself against emotional eating.

♦ Honor Yourself.

Honoring yourself and your food should be your ultimate goal. Respect and listen to your body's needs and attempt to only put the highest quality, most thoughtfully prepared foods into it. Feed yourself with love and respect, not fear or judgment, and you will see how easy it can be to achieve the weight and health that you desire.

Emotional eating is extremely common and, as I said, it tends to be exacerbated by the holiday season, though it can be a problem any time of the year. That's why now is as good of a time as any to break out of this behavior. You owe it to yourself to have a healthy relationship with food and to treat your body and emotions with respect. Making changes will take effort and planning and it may even be a little scary, but sometimes the most difficult tasks can also be the most rewarding.