While Dubai ranks number one in quality of living in the Middle East, work pressures and other realities associated with life in the big city can sometimes take their toll. Many of us will resort to overeating for comfort, but more calories can mean more pounds.
Dubai-based Right Bite Nutrition & Catering Services, which provides nutritional advice, offers a few tips on how to become more mindful.
“Emotional overeating is when you turn to food to fill an emotional void and get instant gratification. Food becomes your solution for coping with stress, anger, anxiety or sadness.  You end up adding extra calories to your daily diet and end up gaining weight thus hindering any progress in maintaining health, while you enter a vicious circle of over indulgence and guilt,” says Zeina Soueidan, a clinical dietitian with The Right Bite Nutrition Center.
Acknowledge Your Emotion and accept the fact that it is perfectly fine to have low moments either in your personal or professional life. Don’t seek to make up for disappointments by immediately indulging in a harmful activity like overeating, which will lead to negative physical and mental consequences on both the short and long terms. Extra unhealthy food might instantly alleviate your mood but you won’t be happy when it negatively affects your body.
Know Your Triggers by registering how frequent you eat when you are in a bad mood, which will provide you with the right indication of how vulnerable to overeating you can get when feeling down. From there you can fully understand your habits and prepare for solutions beforehand while avoiding any possible temperamental reactions.
Distract Yourself; Don’t subject yourself to unhealthy food items. Be keen on buying what is healthy when doing your grocery shopping and don’t stay within reach of unhealthy food items that you might not be able to resist when feeling down. If you are overeating as a way to tackle your boredom or overthinking, then find alternative fruitful activities that can entertain you.
Keep Your Hunger Satisfied. Don’t starve yourself or go for long periods of the day without eating then all of a sudden consume a heavy unhealthy meal. Spread out your meals by eating five small meals a day, which will help you balance your blood sugars and hormones. Include whole grains, healthy fats and good sources of protein; this will get you more in control of your mood, as well as the amount and type of food you consume.
Allow Yourself To Enjoy The Food. Don’t eat too quickly. Take your time and chew well in order to allow yourself to enjoy it in controlled portions. Once finished eating the portions, indulge yourself in other tasks and don’t let the eating process linger, so as to not end up consuming more than the food your body actually needs.