 [ Symptoms ] internal chillsjitters throughout my body lasting for at least a minute with stiffness tiredness multipe episodesday [ Disease ] have you had a history of sneak eating here are seven steps to help you stomp out sneak eating 1 examine your eating habits what are your sneak eating rituals how do you sneak eat what kinds of foods do you choose when you are done overeating what do you do with the wrappers or evidence of sneak eating when are you most likely to curtail your eating because you feel you will be judged what triggers send you flying into your secret sneak eating rituals look at the last time this occurred to you and seek out the connections between trigger and reaction late night eating has a particular air of sneakiness it is dark out no one is around just you and your sneak food how do you feel at that time make connections 2 write it down the best way to look at patterns and make connections is to journal it just whip out a computer or spiral bound notebook and with absolute honestly write down what you eat when and under what circumstances reading your journal usually is a real eye opener 3 savor do not sneak if you feel like you are sneaking food you will scarf up food so fast you will get whiplash stop ask yourself “what was i thinking before i decided to sneak eat ” make connections between events emotions and actions you are not going to truly savor and enjoy food you need to eat behind others backs instead you are reacting to something that has occurred in your life the goal is to savor every morsel of food not to secretly stuff it into your mouth and feel nothing but remorse guilt and shame 4 focus on your strengths here is where we do lots of body image work look at your body you have tremendous strengths there and you need to take pride in them write down your strengths what can your body do well the next time you feel bad about your body whip out your laundry list of positive things you love about your body and neutralize the negative thoughts that send you into a sneak eating binge 5 optimize your healthy lifestyle habits to improve your body image you need to do the work to eat healthfully as well as stay physically active living a healthy lifestyle lays down the foundation for the elimination of sneak eating be patient people who have been sneak eating for a long time will have to be patient with the process of eliminating this habit old self destructive patterns take time to be replaced with healthier progressive lifestyle habits 6 make a commitment if you feel that you are about to sneak eat you probably are eating should not be accompanied by guilt and shame make a commitment to spend the next 24 hours eating healthfully and fight the urge to take food into a secret place where you eat sneak foods start out with a healthy breakfast and