Emotional eating is the practice of managing one’s emotions by eating food. Emotional overeating is one of the leading causes of failed diets and weight gain. This can lead to feelings of failure, hopelessness, and general depression. Unhealthy eating habits often lead to negative physical effects as well.
What causes emotional eating?
Major changes in circumstances, relationships, work dynamics, daily stress, and general feelings of a loss of control can be major factors. For example, a recent break up could drive a person to emotional eating.
A sudden change in behavior of a formally cordial coworker could leave you feeling alienated, or the daily ebb and flow of lives daily activities could put you in a mood where food is thought of as a reward, a way to relieve stress or a way to avoid dealing with emotions surrounding a situation.
How do you detect emotional eating?
Food Cravings Appear Out of Nowhere
Physical hunger is most often experienced as gradually intensifying waves, signifying that the body requires a form of sustenance. Sometimes, it is possible that there is a deficiency of one or more nutrients, but one of the most telling signs of emotional overeating is the sudden, and urgent appearance of food cravings.
During these urgent cravings, you are more likely to make unhealthy food choices, such as fast food, processed snack foods, prepackaged, or otherwise artificial food sources rather than eating healthier traditionally prepared meals.
Your Emotions Drive Your Eating Habits
Mood can affect the speed, and way we eat. Do you sometimes notice that a negative situation can send you running to get comfort food? In times of intense emotional upheaval, it can easily become a habit to turn to food for emotional management. That cookie or ice cream might feel good during consumption, but it isn’t truly fixing the heart of the issue.
You Eat While Stressed
Another big sign that that could show that you are emotionally overeating is that you are eating while stressed. Any changes in life large or small can cause a measure of stress. Stressful situations like financial uncertainty could lead to comfort food seeking activity.
Relationships are also a major source of stress due to the tendency for relationships to experience inevitable changes in dynamics. This could be anything from romantic relationships to work relationships.
You Keep Eating Past Being Full
One of the most serious of the signs of emotional overeating is eating past being full. This is when the need to fill the emotional void exceeds the body’s natural feeling of fullness.
It can manifest itself in joyless eating, which is eating on autopilot. During this period you might consume empty calories so quickly that you don’t even taste the food.
You may also find yourself forcing the second half of a meal you could have saved for later, or buying additional snack foods that you will be tempted to eat prematurely. Part of the serious nature of this habit, is that it is a primary mechanism that makes weight gain and other health issues a possibility.
How can emotional eating affect you?
Along with the emotional effects already mentioned, there are a number of health risks associated with emotional eating. It is one of the leading causes of failed diets and weight gain. Weight gain puts a heavy strain on organs such as the heart, lungs, and liver, which can lead to high blood pressure and diabetes.
A person who has gained a substantial amount of weight faces an increased risk of joint injuries of all types. A slip or fall could result in a serious injury that requires surgery, and many months of healing, but what is even more frightening is the fact that a lot of weight gain could make it more difficult, or even prevent emergency medical teams from being able to respond in an efficient or timely manner.
What can you do?
One of the most commonly used methods of determining the source of hunger is the food test. Ask yourself if you really want to eat this food in particular, or if there is something else you can eat instead.
You can also try habit replacement. Find something positive to do when you feel stressed out. Exercise, deep breathing, or any stress-relieving hobby can go a long way to improving your control.
Lastly, resolve any mental health issues by seeing a qualified professional.
