The cure? Eat, and repeat. 

But we know this doesn’t work because it leads to binge eating (either a subjective or an objective binge), and when the episode is over the client feels worse–not better.  The very thing/feeling that made her or him eat in the first place is still there.  The boredom or the anxiety or the loneliness or the depression never went anywhere.  It was masked for a moment.  I encourage clients to explore this with me and/or with a psychotherapist, if appropriate.

Geneen Roth wrote recently (Good Houkeeping magazine, July 2009): “After having devoted a lot of my life to being anxious about things that never came to pass, I’ve finally realized that worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair all day and thinking you’re actually going somewhere.”  Geneen’s solution, which I adore: “[Notice], on a daily basis, everything that you don’t have to worry about. Everything that is already fine, vibrant, thriving.”

To close, as I tell my clients, when thinking of reaching for food, first identify if it’s from physiological hunger or from emotional hunger.  Then proceed accordingly.