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EMOTIONAL eating, self-criticism, stress and pessimism can cause weight gain. Luckily, psychological strategies can help.

In this column, the second of two dealing with stress and weight, I'll highlight more ideas from Dr. Robert Kushner and registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner. The pair drew crowds to their talk about weight and personality at the recent American Dietetic Association convention.

Kushner and Blatner have identified and written about seven personality patterns that drive weight gain. I summarized three in my last column: Persistent Procrastinator, People Pleaser and Overreaching Achiever.

This week, I'll delve into the other four coping patterns Kushner and Blatner describe: Emotional Eater, Self-Scrutinizer, Fast Pacer and Doubtful Dieter.

EMOTIONAL EATER

Sadness, stress, boredom, worries--whatever the problem, some people distract themselves with food.

Kushner and Blatner recommended four strategies for change:

The first step, structured journaling, includes making lists of situations, feelings, eating and consequences.

I find it's helpful for people to journal in a nonjudgmental way, as if they were anthropologists studying a foreign culture. Use specific, neutral wording, such as "After my boss yelled at me, I ate four doughnuts and felt calmer at first, but still overly full, and stressed all day," rather than "I ate disgusting amounts of trash."

Journaling for a few days can lead you to step two:

This second step is to identify which situations or emotions trigger overeating.

Step three is to plan ways to cope with these specific situations without food. The first and most important thing to try is to "ride out" the feeling, the way a surfer rides a wave. Like ocean waves, emotions tend to rise and fall, according to Kushner and Blatner.

Also, plan actions for dealing with specific emotions. For example, if you eat when lonely, your plan might address your social hunger with actions such as calling or messaging a friend, or going to a health club.

The fourth step for long-term prevention of emotional eating is to make time for daily relaxation.

Choose from dozens of options such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, exercise or watching funny movies.

Some cases are too severe to treat on your own. If you feel depressed, or if your emotional eating includes out-of-control binges, I strongly recommend treatment by a doctor or therapist.

SELF-SCRUTINIZER