By Jen Nader

It is important to understand the difference between appetite and hunger because they are easily confused. Hunger is your body's need to eat. Your appetite refers to your desire to eat. There are many things that make you desire to eat. Marketing messages can be one reason that triggers an increase in your appetite. Another trigger is emotions.

We all experience changes in our mood due to stress, relationships or general life frustrations. It is a problem when we eat to cope. Typically, eating at this time causes us to eat more than we need and leads us to gain weight. To avoid this, I strive daily to enjoy the foods I eat because I know that pleasure is an important part of healthy eating. I'm satisfied eating whole foods, limiting my intake of high-calorie foods and eating lots of vegetables. I also plan my meals ahead of time which helps me to build a defense against eating too much out of emotion or eating in-between meals. The foods I have chosen in my diet are what makes sticking to this plan easy for me. Foods high in salt and sugar, such as junk foods and fast foods, can be addictive and will prevent my body from being able to regulate how much food I actually need. However, "real food" gives me the fuel I need to reduce cravings and help me feel satisfied. This way of living has made junk food very unappealing. And by planning my meals ahead of time, I ensure that I'll enjoy my meal and feel satisfied when I'm done. These tactics help keep me from eating out of emotion. Develop a healthy habit of enjoying what you eat and eat foods that will nourish your body at regular times of the day.

Do you feel like you need help with emotional eating? If the suggestions above don't sound as though they will help, try substituting an activity for your negative feelings and stress. Try running a mile instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips. When we are eating out of emotion, we look for foods that are high in carbs and sugars because we think they will make us "feel good." They release endorphins and serotonin. The chemicals in these foods can also be addicting. The good news is that exercise releases endorphins and can also be addicting! And, because exercise can you leave you healthier and thinner, a choice between the two should be easy to make!

Here are some tips to help you avoid emotional eating:

1.   Exercise more, not less. When we are stressed and need more time in the day, we often cut exercise out of our schedules first. However, the time we could be spending exercising could release more chemicals that make you happy and therefor more productive, and it helps you to avoid other ways of coping, like over-eating.

2.   Don't buy comfort foods. Keep them out of your desk and out of the house. When this food is easily accessible, it is difficult to avoid. When work is piling up, and the children are getting on your last nerve, the last thing you want is that ice cream calling your name in the freezer. Make it easy on yourself, don't even keep junk food around. And here's another tip, if you really feel the urge to get in your car to buy it, decide to walk or run to the store, or before you go, instead. You'll probably decide not to make the purchase after all.

You have enough stress in your life to manage, follow these guidelines so you don't have to add the stress of needing to lose weight to the list.