Picture the scene:

You’ve had a terrible day, you feel tired, miserable, overwhelmed and your best intentions of eating well are in tatters.

You need a way to make things better. To perk you up, calm you down and reassure yourself that it will get easier.

So what do you turn to? Ah yes, the things that will leave you feeling ashamed, disappointed, worn out, maybe even a bit sick, whether that’s biscuits, chocolate, junk food, cereal, whatever is closest to hand…

I wish this were a made-up scenario, but it’s something that comes up often with my clients, and was my “coping” strategy too for a long time.

Changing a useless coping strategy for a more effective one is tough, but it can be done. The first step is to recognise that what you have historically chosen to do isn’t serving you at all and, worse, is bringing you down and holding you back.

Start with a simple one: breathe. Put the brakes on for 10, 20, 30 seconds before reaching for the food, always with the understanding that you have unconditional permission to eat whatever you like.

If you could do with some other ideas of food-free strategies that really do work, my e-book “How to Manage Emotional Eating” is definitely worth a look (available here for just £5).