For emotional eaters, food is a best friend, there to boost sprits, calm stress and alleviate boredom.

But according to the August 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, emotional eating often leads to eating too much, especially high-calorie, sweet, salty and fatty foods. Women are especially prone to emotional eating -- and then feel guiltier and less healthy than men do after snacking on "forbidden" foods.

The connection between stress and eating likely has roots in brain chemistry. Faced with a real threat, the fight-or-flight reaction kicks in and suppresses appetite temporarily. But when faced with persistent stress -- health problems, difficult relationships or too much work -- many people turn to high-fat, high-calorie foods for comfort. Using food as a coping strategy doesn't alleviate stress and will likely cause weight gain.

• Learn to recognize true hunger: A craving for sweets soon after a meal is likely an emotional hunger, not real hunger.

• Look elsewhere for comfort: Instead of grabbing unhealthy food, try exercising.

• Identify the food triggers: Keeping a journal can help identify patterns in emotional eating, including emotions and feelings when eating; what and how much was eaten; and feelings after eating.

• Manage stress in a healthy way: Many people over eat and reach for bad foods when they are stressed. Lower stress with healthful stress busting strategies, like exercise.

• Eat a balanced diet and healthy snacks: Between meals, opt for low-fat, low-calorie snacks such as fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, and unbuttered popcorn.

• Toss out the unhealthy foods: Avoid stocking the shelves and refrigerator with high-calorie unhealthy comfort foods. practice healthy eating by reaching for healthy comfort foods like fresh vegetables, low fat protein foods or fresh fruit.

• Practice mindful eating: This means become aware of what you are eating. Avoid mindless eating like eating while watching TV or studying. Mindfulness eating leads to over eating, over indulging and eating bad food. When applying mindfulness to eating studies have shown that people eat less food and as a result gain less weight.