Emotional Eating

 

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!