The original question asked how to prevent emotional eating, and was asked on the weight-loss.fitness.com forum.

Emotional eating does suck. In general, eating a bit more protein than the usual 10-15% and less than the 60-65% carbohydrates may help with feeling full and satisfied (which may or may not help the extreme emotion eating, but it will probably help at least a bit). It mentions eating at least 30% of each in this forum, which doesn’t seem unreasonable. So long as you never go less than 15-20% carbohydrates, lowering them to increase protein is alright.

Fruits and vegetables are NEVER BAD!!! Do not be afraid to eat them. Technically, they are carbohydrates, but they are the best type of carbohydrates. When I talk about cutting the carbohydrates, I am telling you to reduce sugar, white grains, and other simple carbohydrates. Basically, no junk food. Junk food is full of carbohydrates (and fats, of course). Why is this sugar bad? It causes spikes in our blood sugar, which causes the release of insulin, which triggers a chain of reactions that ends up with the body spiking and crashing and storing fat more than it would otherwise (I forget the exact mechanism, but it just ends up being bad for everyone, not to mention people trying to lose weight).

Just as fruits, vegetables, and whole/”brown” grains make up good carbohydrates, there are also good fats! These fats are from fish and plant sources (unsaturated fats). Fats from meat, diary, and other animal sources shouldn’t be higher than 10% of your diet.

Now, I have personally found that diary (milk, cottage cheese) help me to feel full. However, I always eat the low fat and non-fat versions because it keeps it from filling up the 10% that can come from animal/dairy sources and reduces the calories. The rest of your fat (up to 25-30% total fat), should come from these fish and plant sources. Included in this are nuts, seeds, beans, and other legumes. So, peanuts (and peanut butter that doesn’t have lots of added sugar and preservatives), are good for you, so long as you keep track of the calories.