Emotional eating is when you turn to food to manage or soothe emotions rather than eating to satisfy physical hunger. It typically happens when you’re experiencing stress, sadness, boredom, loneliness, or even happiness. Rather than addressing the root cause of the emotion, emotional eating uses food as a temporary comfort or distraction.
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Understanding whether you’re emotionally eating is crucial because it can have significant impacts on both your physical and mental wellbeing. You might be emotional eating if:
- You are craving specific comfort foods that are high in sugar, fat, or carbohydrates.
- You are consuming food without paying attention to hunger or fullness cues.
- You’re eating when you are triggered by emotions and your body doesn’t physically need food.
- You have guilt or regret after eating.
Emotional eating while it may provide temporary comfort can lead to risks that affect both your physical and mental wellbeing. Some of the main concerns include:
- Emotional eating overrides your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals making it harder to recognize when you’re hungry or satisfied.
- Using food to cope with emotions can lead to consuming more than your body needs especially high-calorie or “comfort” foods.
- Repeated emotional eating may contribute to weight gain or cycles of weight loss and gain which can negatively affect physical health and self-esteem.
- Emotional eating often involves foods high in sugar, fat, or salt, and low in essential nutrients which can compromise overall nutritional health.
- Over time emotional eating can lead to health issues such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
- Reliance on food to manage emotions can prevent you from developing healthier coping strategies leading to a cycle of emotional eating.
- Emotional eating frequently results in feelings of guilt, regret, or shame, which can negatively impact mental health and reinforce adverse emotions.
- The temporary relief provided by emotional eating can reinforce the habit making it harder to break free from this cycle.
- Emotional eating can exacerbate stress, anxiety, or depression by masking underlying emotional issues instead of addressing them.
Emotional eating can be triggered by various emotions, situations, and habits. Some of these triggers include:
- Stress
High levels of stress can increase cortisol production which can lead to cravings for comfort foods like sweets and fatty snacks. - Boredom
Feeling bored or lacking stimulation can lead to eating to pass the time or fill an emotional void. - Sadness or loneliness
Food is often used to cope with feelings of sadness, loneliness, or heartbreak as it can provide temporary emotional comfort. - Anxiety
Nervousness or worry can sometimes trigger an increase in serotonin levels. - Celebration or happiness
Emotional eating is not always negative, happy occasions or celebrations can also encourage overeating or indulging in specific foods. - Habits or environment
Associating certain activities, like watching TV or working late, with eating can become a habitual trigger over time. - Fatigue
When you are physically or mentally exhausted, food can feel like an easy pick-me-up. - External cues
Smells, advertisements, or even the sight of food can trigger eating even if you are not physically hungry. - Self-criticism or negative body image
Feeling dissatisfied with yourself or your body can lead to emotional eating to cope with those negative feelings.
It is important to recognize that emotional eating is a natural response to dealing with emotions, however when it becomes a frequent habit it may disrupt your physical and mental wellbeing. Finding alternative ways to manage emotions such as journaling talking to a friend or engaging in a calm activity can help address the underlying feelings without relying on food.
Read more about how to manage emotional eating in part 2 Practical Strategies for a Healthier Approach.
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