Do you use food to deal with your emotions? If you're not sure, keep a food diary for a few days. Every time you eat something, record your emotions at the time. Are you happy or excited, sad, bored, angry, stressed or anxious, lonely - or neutral? If you see a pattern of eating when you have certain emotions, you may be an emotional eater.

What can you do about emotional eating? The first step is to recognize which emotions trigger you to reach for a brownie. Then, replace the food with another activity that will help to defuse the emotion. For example, turn on some loud music and dance to relieve stress or anger, take a walk in the woods to alleviate boredom, call a friend and make a date if you're lonely. Choose a funny movie if you're sad.

Learning how to substitute healthy activities for raiding the refrigerator will help you to stick to a healthy eating plan.