When you hear the term “Emotional Eating”, what do you think
about? If you think it is when we eat when we are sad and that leads to
overeating “junk” food… you are not wrong… but there is more! Emotional eating is
caused by any emotion. This can be due to being sad and stressed but also happy
events like weddings and social situation!
Emotional eating is different than eating out of hunger. Some
of the key differences between emotional eating and physical hunger is:
Emotional |
Physical |
Hunger comes on suddenly |
Hunger is gradual |
Craving specific foods |
Can eat anything |
Mindless eating |
Eating with intent |
Not able to reach satiety |
Hunger stops |
Feeling guilt or shame after eating |
No emotion related to eating |
Do not know if you struggle with emotional eating? Here are
some great questions to ask yourself!
1.
Does food make me feel safe?
2.
Do I feel guilty after eating?
3.
Do I turn to food in times of change?
4.
Do I eat when I’m not hungry?
5.
Do I eat when I’m stressed?
6.
Do I reward myself with food?
7.
Do I eat until I am stuffed often?
You may have answered yes to some of those questions and it
is okay. Food is comfort. We turn to food because it can be our friend. The
concern is are we letting it control our lives? Can we break the cycle of:
A life event happens ->
feeling the overwhelming urge to eat -> feeling guilty -> overeating
Do we have good coping mechanisms to help get our emotions
and not rely on food? Some great coping skills can be:
Ø
Keeping a food and mood journal
Ø
Drink a cup of tea
Ø
Color
Ø
Sit in a nice bath
Ø
Watch your favorite movie or TV show
Ø
Call a friend
Ø
Take a walk
For more tips on triggers of emotional eating and how to start
the steps to overcome it, visit our podcast!
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