The facts about emotional eating

"It's healthy to emotionally eat once in a while—to eat for comfort, to celebrate, or just because," says Jean Fain, a psychotherapist affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the author of The Self-Compassion Diet. "Sure, you could go for a walk or head to the gym, but sometimes an ice cream sundae is just the thing." Both your body and psyche are wired to make connections between how you feel and what you eat. It's the way you handle and regulate your eating that determines whether your emotional eating is a real health concern. If you punish yourself after eating, your emotional eating may have gone too far. The article goes on to suggest several things you can do to help you avoid excessive emotional eating, such as keeping a journal.

CNN Living/ RealSimple.com, 10/3/2012