If you have type 2 diabetes and you’re concerned about how you’re dealing with your emotional response to food, here are some adjustments that may help you curb emotional eating:

• Out of sight, out of mind: Embrace this concept if you really can’t resist the temptation. Creating distance between yourself and sugary, fatty, and salty foods could help you stay on track with healthy eating. You want to be eating nourishing foods most of the time to help keep your sugars in check and feel at your best.
• Recognize when you’re actually hungry. People eat for a variety of reasons, and some of those reasons have nothing to do with hunger. You may find yourself eating simply because the food is delicious and you’re enjoying a pleasurable experience or you may want to celebrate or reward yourself with your favorite treats. If you’re overindulging in food for emotional reasons, it’s important to learn to separate actual hunger from those other reasons, and stick with eating only when you’re hungry.
• Cope with cravings. A craving is a physiological need for a specific food to satisfy a chemical imbalance. This desire can seem uncontrollable, and people with cravings may not be satisfied until they get that particular food.Often, the craving is for foods high in sugar and fats, which can make maintaining a healthful diet difficult. One trick for coping with cravings is to try to use portion management to gain better control over your cravings.
• Professional advice. Emotional eating isn’t an easy behavior to overcome, but it’s an important issue to learn how to control. Professional advice is more critical for people with diabetes as they work to change emotional eating behaviors.

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