Do you eat even when you aren’t hungry? Some people eat when they are bored. Others eat when they are nervous. Yet others eat when angry or sad. None of these reasons are related to the actual purpose of eating, which is simply to keep our bodies and minds nourished with good nutrition and provide us with energy. Too often, many of us fall victim to what is called “emotional overeating.”
Emotional eating is defined as turning to food for comfort, stress relief, or as a reward rather than to satisfy hunger. Most emotional eaters feel powerless over their food cravings when the urge to eat, hits. An example of emotional eating is commonly seen in the person who always makes room for dessert, even when full. Another example is reaching for a pint of ice cream after receiving some bad news.
Using food as a reward or a way to celebrate isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s when eating becomes the primary emotional coping mechanism that the trouble begins. If we’re upset, angry, lonely, stressed, exhausted, or bored and eat rather than trying to resolve the issues in concrete ways, it not only creates a vicious cycle, but it also can produce health problems, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiac conditions.
Ways to stop emotional eating
Most of us experience emotional overeating at some point in our lives. The trick is to not turn it into a habit. Since April is emotional overeating awareness month, this is the perfect time to implement some helpful precautions. Knowledge is power, so identifying triggers is crucial. What situations, places, or feelings make us reach for food?
Most emotional eating is linked to unpleasant feelings, but it can also be triggered by positive emotions, such as rewarding ourselves for achieving a goal or celebrating a holiday or happy event. Once we identify our triggers, we can consciously avoid reacting to them by eating. Here are some common triggers for emotional overeating:
Stress – When stress is chronic, it leads to high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet, and high-fat foods—foods that give us a burst of energy and pleasure. The more uncontrolled stress in our life, the more likely we are to turn to food for emotional relief.
Numbing emotions – Eating can be a way to temporarily silence or numb uncomfortable emotions. It is a way to hide from anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, resentment, and shame.
Boredom or feelings of emptiness – When we feel unfulfilled and empty, food is a way to occupy us. In the moment, it fills us up and is a distraction from the underlying feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction with life.
Childhood habits – Did your parents reward good behavior with ice cream, take you out for pizza when you got a good report card, or serve you sweets when you were feeling sad? These emotionally based childhood eating habits often carry over into adulthood. Sometimes cherished memories of grilling burgers in the backyard with your dad, baking and eating cookies with your mom, or gathering around the table with your extended family for a home-cooked pasta dinner trigger emotional eating.
Social influences – Getting together with other people for a meal is a great way to relieve stress, but it is easy to overindulge simply because the food is there or because everyone else is eating. We may also overeat in social situations out of nervousness. Or perhaps our family or circle of friends encourages us to overeat, and it’s easier to go along with the group.
Mindful eating as an alternative
The opposite of emotional eating is called “mindful eating.” Those who practice mindful eating develop an awareness of their eating habits. This allows for the all-important “pause” between when the food craving hits and the action of eating. The pause often stops the actual need to eat, which changes the pattern of emotional overeating and prevents the sabotaging of a healthy diet. In other words, if you can pause and reflect when you’re hit with a craving, you give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision.
Put off eating for five minutes, or just start with one minute. Just tell yourself to wait. While you’re waiting, check how you are you feeling. What’s going on emotionally? Even if you end up eating, you’ll have a better understanding of why you did it. This can help you set up a different response next time.
Mindful eating involves:
Seek solutions
The solution to emotional eating is less about eating than it is about emotions.
“Make a list of what is stressing you, and make a plan to take control of the situation,” New York psychologist Patricia Farrell, PhD, says. “If you can change the situation, go for it. If the problem is out of your control, you can manage the way you think about it. If you can notice your stress in the moment, you can choose how you respond, rather than reacting the way you have in the past.”
When tempted to snack for emotional reasons, try moving instead. “Just walk in place for 10 minutes,” Farrell says. “Even a quick burst of activity refreshes you, and moving is a proven stress-buster. You've replaced the urge to eat with something else.”
Not all emotional eating is unhealthy. It’s normal occasionally to eat to celebrate with friends or because you’re feeling blue. It only becomes a problem when it is used frequently and even in the face of unhealthy consequences, such as medical issues.
As LifePharm IBOs, do you know of people who are emotional overeaters? Why not introduce them to Laminine, known to be able to help normalize cortisol levels? And, share the research that shows how taking all four LifePharm products together produces the most results.