The Scientific Approach to Eliminating Emotional Eating and Weight Loss

It seems that one of the biggest challenges humanity faces today is the obesity epidemic.

Even though there are many types of diets - Mediterranean diet, low-calorie diet, protein diet, carbohydrate diet, and more, studies show that 95% of people who start dieting do not succeed in the long term and often regain the weight plus an extra few kilograms.

Why is it so hard to lose weight with diets?

"Firstly, it is important to understand that if you tried to lose weight with diets and didn't succeed, you didn't fail at diets; the diets failed you! To lose weight and especially to maintain it long-term, habits must change, and one habit that must be broken is emotional eating. Many people start a diet and try to stick to a strict menu, but then quickly find themselves seeking comfort and calm from sweets or fatty foods or obsessing over food, snacking, or overeating and subsequently feeling frustrated and hopeless. But they are not to blame as the diets completely miss the point of their emotional eating, which is the real issue to resolve; hence the diets don't address the root of the problem, and those who start a diet simply cannot persist. That's why diets just don't work, and indeed, dozens of studies have determined that diets aren't effective long-term," explains psychologist and weight loss without dieting expert, Dr. Olga Semionov.

So, is emotional eating related to obesity?

Definitely! Studies have found that among people who suffer from overweight, up to 72% of non-hunger-driven eating is emotion-based eating. This means we have two types of hunger: physical hunger and emotional hunger. If we were to eliminate emotional eating and eat only when physically hungry, we could save up to 72% of unnecessary eating! This could save a lot of excess kilograms.

(Photo: shutterstock)

We ask Dr. Olga to explain what emotional hunger is and why it's so dangerous to our weight loss process.

Physical hunger is intended to signal that the body needs food and it's time to nourish it.

In contrast, emotional hunger is the hunger experienced in response to negative emotions and not from the need to nourish the body. In such cases, turning to food stems from the emotional need for comfort, relaxation, or rest, or people might find themselves turning to food to cope with mental stress, boredom, sadness, or emptiness. The usual turn is to fattening, sugar-laden, and fatty foods.

We crave junk food, chocolates, and sweets. You might eat a box of ice cream when you're feeling down, order pizza if you're bored or lonely, or continually wander around the fridge after a stressful day at work.

We try to solve emotional issues or distress with food. The problem is that turning to food does not truly help deal with negative emotions because even if there's some emotional relief after eating, that feeling lasts only five minutes. That's all."

And what happens afterward? Many times afterward, the feeling might be even worse because, on top of the negative emotions already present, people tend to feel anger at themselves, regret, guilt, and despair due to all the unnecessary food they've eaten. This just makes their weight more stuck.

Why is it so hard to let go of emotional eating?

From the moment we are born, the need to seek food for body nourishment is ingrained in us. But, later, food begins to serve not just for nutrition but also for pleasure, pampering, and rewards. For example, already as children cakes or sweets for Shabbat, a biscuit after a medical exam, candies for a Bar Mitzvah, and as adults it might be snacks in the evening, cookies with coffee, chocolates as a treat, and more. Habits developed over life at some point become automatic, controlling us and our eating.

What makes it even harder to release emotional eating is the dependency we develop on sugary and fatty foods. After all, to relax and rest, we don't reach for lettuce or cucumber, do we? We reach for sweets and fatty foods, and the fact that they are cheap and available everywhere makes it even harder.

Therefore, without the right tools, it's tough to put an end to emotional eating and lose weight.

Is there a solution for emotional eating?

After understanding that many of us suffer from emotional eating and it often causes diets to fail repeatedly, the question arises - are we doomed to suffer from emotional eating and live with excess weight? Dr. Olga quickly reassures us, "It's possible to easily release emotional eating and lose weight without dieting by a new science-based method called EFT Tapping. It's a psychological method that helps release negative emotions at the root of emotional eating and change our eating habits without diets. Accordingly, when the internal experience stabilizes and food no longer controls you, and you feel in control, weight loss without diets and internal struggles becomes possible."

You mentioned the method is science-based?

"Indeed. Studies have found that participants who underwent EFT Tapping treatments lost weight without diets.

"What's even more amazing is that this achievement was maintained for years, shares Dr. Olga Semionov, adding, "The true achievement in weight loss is the ability to maintain success long-term, and the EFT Tapping method has proven this is definitely possible."

Dr. Olga Semionov learned the advanced methods of EFT for weight loss from leading experts and researchers worldwide and has since helped many women from Israel and abroad to end their emotional eating.

Could you share interesting cases where you helped?

"Certainly. For example, Shani Chen from Toronto released her emotional eating and changed her habits, allowing her to lose over 20 kilograms. Neti from the center lost nearly 20 kilograms by putting an end to her emotional eating, changing her management with food and herself, and she even continued to lose weight during quarantine, and these are just a small portion of touching success stories."

Sounds interesting. How can one learn more about the solution to emotional eating?

"I am opening the doors for those who want to learn more about the topic of emotional eating and the idea of weight loss without dieting, and I invite you to an exclusive online tutorial where I will present the foundational roadmap for releasing emotional eating.