Many people do not eat just to satisfy their hunger but also in response to some emotion; the latter is more prevalent. Emotional eating is when you eat when you are in some emotional state. Many people find it as a way to cope with stress. Undoubtedly our body needs food for energy and daily living and when we eat our body shows a feeling of relaxation and comfort. But many peoples use this comfort feeling to manage their stress.
Emotional eating is widespread and almost every people are doing it to some extent. When you track your everyday eating habit you will come to know how much you are eating without any need.
Although emotional eating is very common, there are ways through which you can overcome this habit. In this article, I have explained thoroughly everything about emotional eating.
What is emotional eating?
Have you ever been in a situation in which you have eaten your lunch an hour ago and suddenly an intense desire to eat came into your mind and you couldn’t resist it? We all people often experience this in life. Emotional eating is an urge to eat something without actual need. This means you are not hungry but your mind wants you to eat something so it can gain some relaxation and comfort. In fact, emotional eating is only for relaxation and comfort. It has no connection to your actual hunger or need.
What leads to emotional eating
Many causes lead to emotional eating. Stress is the main factor that can affect your eating habits. You may be in a condition like completing a project for a company or you may be thinking of your exam after a few days or maybe there are some other causes like financial problems, struggling in a relationship, family issues, study issues, job insecurity, and many more. There is also an association between childhood trauma and emotional eating. Many peoples who are emotional eaters have some childhood trauma that leads to post-traumatic stress disorder which has a direct relation with emotional eating.
Emotional eating vs hunger
This sound easy but it is very tricky, you cannot easily differentiate between emotional eating and hunger. We all humans need food to eat for our bodies. It’s natural and necessary because our bodies are utilizing energy for our daily living. We get this energy from the food we eat. In emotional eating, we are exceeding our required energy so it is necessary to track it.
Physical hunger and emotional eating may be present in combination sometimes. It is hard to differentiate between them but some cues will help.
- Emotional hunger comes suddenly, you may have eaten an hour ago but all of a sudden an intense urge to eat came and you cannot resist it. On the other hand, physical hunger develops gradually when you have digested all contents of your stomach from the last meal.
- In emotional hunger, there is no stomach growling. There is a desire to eat some specific food without need.
- After eating a certain food you feel a sensation of fullness in hunger but there is no such sensation in emotional eating. You may continue to eat and eat until you are stuffed.
- Emotional eating leads to mindless eating. You may eat a full bag of chips without actually knowing it. On the other hand in hunger, you are aware of what you are eating and you also enjoy it.
- In emotional hunger, you desire some specific food and taste while in physical hunger you eat whatever you got. There is no desire for a specific food in physical hunger.
| Emotional hunger | Physical hunger |
| It comes suddenly and you can’t resist it | It comes gradually and you can control it |
| You have a desire for some specific food or taste | You don’t have any desire for specific food, you eat whatever you got |
| Stomach growling is not present | You can feel your stomach growling |
| It is triggered by emotions or stressful conditions | It has no association with emotion or stress |
| It leads to mindless eating | It leads to mindful eating |
| You are eating for your comfort and don’t enjoy it | You enjoy it |
Know if you are an emotional eater
Below are some questions, you have to read carefully and answer honestly to yourself. These questions will help you whether you are an emotional eater or not. Dont be panic or worry if you are an emotional eater. The good news is that there are tips by which you can change yourself.
🠆Do you often eat when you are in stress?
🠆Do you eat when you are not hungry?
🠆Do you eat late at night when you have taken dinner?
🠆 Does eating give you pleasure and comfort?
🠆 Do you feel out of control around food?
If your answer is yes then you may be suffering from emotional eating.
How to overcome emotional eating
Emotional eating is a bad thing because it affects your calorie balance and you may become overweight and obese.
Identify your triggers:
The first step is to identify the triggers that lead to emotional eating. This is not a difficult task. You need to focus on your routine and carefully observe the situations or places or maybe persons which cause you to eat. In most instances, it is the stress conditions that lead to emotional eating. But this is not always the cause sometimes people eat when they are feeling good and reward themselves by eating.
Factors that lead to emotional eating:
Stress: It is one of the most common factors that leads to emotional eating. In stress your body produces many hormones one is cortisol. These hormones increase your craving for salty and sweet food. These food are high in energy content and increases your calorie and gives a feeling of comfort in these situations.
Suppression of emotions: Many peoples, you have noticed sometimes becomes temporarily silent after an undesired event. This is the phenomenon by which they suppress their emotions. Some peoples use food for that purpose. They take food to free themselves from the pain of the event. Later on, this becomes a habit and every time they get in a stressful condition they try to get food to numb them.
Boredom: Many people take food when they feel bored. When there is nothing to do and you are alone, you will start eating a cookies or pack of chips. And you are not eating it because you are hungry but you are eating it to relieve your feeling of loneliness and purposelessness.
Childhood habits: In childhood, you might have received a bar of chocolate after getting good marks in an exam. This habit may be carried on into your adulthood and you may be taking food for rewarding yourself.
Daily routine: Do you often eat while watching television or movies? If you eat then these are your habits that lead to emotional eating. This is also common as you often watch people taking popcorn with them in theaters.
These are some common factors that lead to emotional eating. Carefully observe your day and try to find out your triggers for emotional eating. It may be a single trigger or sometimes it is multiple.
Start writing your eating routine:
Writing your eating routine is a good way to understand your habits and emotions. Keep a record of your eating and along with it mention these three things:
- Where were you at the time of eating?
- What were you doing at that time?
- What were your feelings at that time?
By properly writing these things you will get a record of yourself and it will help in altering these habits.
Be honest with yourself and find out why these things are happening.
Try other ways to cope:
When you got a record of your habits and emotion you will find your trigger for eating. Try other ways to cope with that triggers.
As you eat in response to stress so manage your stress with other activities like walking.
Here are some strategies that will help you to overcome your triggers.
Start exercise:
Exercise is an effective strategy to cope with boredom. If you are alone and it is the factor that leads you to emotional eating then start exercise at that time. Make a schedule for yourself and include exercise in your free time. This will help you a lot. By exercising you will utilize your time productively.
Make a call to your loved one:
Every people has someone in their life with whom they share everything. It may be a close friend, mother, father, sibling or girlfriend, or boyfriend.
Make a call to them when you feel stressed. This will help you a lot and will make you relaxed and comfortable.
Social support is very effective in stress management. Try to resist isolation during anxiety and stress.
Go for a walk:
Going out for a walk is always a good therapy for stress. If you are at home try to get out and do a walk. Even a 5-minute walk is enough. Walking releases hormones such as endorphins which are mood stabilizers. This will change your mood and gives you a soothing effect.
Yoga:
Yoga is a low-intensity exercise. It has many physical as well as mental effects. It gives you flexibility and has many psychological benefits.
Include yoga in your daily routines. It has a direct effect on reducing stress and anxiety. It also increases your metabolism and has a direct effect on weight loss.
Yoga for 15 to 30 minutes is enough for stress reduction. Yoga will help you to dive into your inner soul and will heal you.
Healthy snacks:
If you love food and you can’t control yourself from eating then include healthy snacks in your routine.
Avoid fatty and oily snacks and used better alternatives for them. Try to increase the protein content of your food like fish, meat, beans, mushroom, chicken breast, and dairy products. Protein utilizes more energy during digestion and helps in weight loss also.
Make a schedule of your meals:
Our body needs food for working. Make a schedule for your meal and strictly follow it. Like make a time for your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week, and stick to it. This will help you full and will avoid unnecessary food intake.
You can follow this schedule:
| Day | Breakfast | Snack | Lunch | Snack | Dinner |
| Monday | 07:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. | 02:00 p.m. | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 07:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. | 02:00 p.m. | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 07:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. | 02:00 p.m. | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. |
| Thursday | 07:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. | 02:00 p.m. | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. |
| Friday | 07:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. | 02:00 p.m. | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. |
| Saturday | 09:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | 03:00 p.m. | 05:00 p.m. | 09:00 p.m. |
| Sunday | 09:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | 03:00 p.m. | 05:00 p.m. | 09:00 p.m. |
These are some tips that can help you to control emotional eating. Remember it will be hard to implement this at the start but you need to be consistent and observe your routines. By practicing again and again you will eventually get it.
Conclusion
Emotional eating is a habit to eat to some underlying trigger. Stress is the most common of them. But you can control this habit by changing your daily routines and following the tips mentioned in this article. Emotional eating leads to weight gain and if you are struggling for weight loss then must try these tips.
If you have any queries feel free to contact us. Thank you.