Love this, Laura. I never thought of myself as an “emotional eater” until I realised that, duh, I totally was. For me I’ve found that not using food as a “treat” or “reward” really works – I don’t “need” chocolate because I’ve had a crappy day at work but I also don’t need to justify having a slice of cake if I’m having a coffee catch-up with a friend and I just want a slice of cake. I definitely agree with your point about joy deficiency – I think a lot of my emotional eating started when I was doing a job that definitely did not give me joy (actually quite the opposite). Having “treats” felt at the time like a way of coping – hopefully now I am better at addressing the cause of lack of joy rather than just buying a Starbucks granola bar! x