October 5, 2009
Emotional Eating Part 1
Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food — usually “comfort” or junk foods — when feeling upset, stressed, angry, tired, anxiety, stress, bored, loneliness, poor self-esteem, problems with relationships, or sad instead feelings of hunger. Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions.
Everyone eats for emotional reasons once in a while, but when the habit of using food to deal with emotions happen often, it becomes harder to separate physical hunger from an unrelenting emotional hunger.
Emotional eating takes its toll on the body and causes weight gain. In order to stop emotional eating, you must first admit that there is a problem.
The next step would be to identify what triggers the emotional eating. Here are a few typical triggers:
Social
Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.
Emotional
Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety, or loneliness as a way to “fill the void.” People who are uncomfortable with confrontation may deal with frustrations in their marriage with a piece of cake, for example, rather than with open communication. Food can take the focus off of anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, and a host of other emotions we’d sometimes rather not feel, and is often used for this purpose.
Situational
Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.
Thoughts
Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.
Physiological
Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.
Nervous Energy
When stressed or anxious, many people become “orally fidgety.” Sometimes this leads to nail biting or teeth grinding, and often it leads to eating when not hungry. Many people, out of nervousness or boredom, just munch on chips or drink soda to give their mouths something to do.
Childhood Habits
Many of us have comforting childhood memories that revolve around food. Whether your parents used to reward you with sweets, fix your boo-boos with an ice cream cone, or make your favorite meal (or take you out to one) to celebrate your successes, you’d probably be in the vast minority if you didn’t develop some emotionally-based attachments to food while growing up. When in times of stress, few things can be as powerfully comforting or rewarding as your favorite food. Because many people don’t develop more effective coping strategies, this type of emotional eating is very common: people eat to celebrate, eat to feel better, eat to deal with the stress of being overweight.
To identify what triggers excessive eating in you, keep a food diary that records what and when you eat as well as what stressors, thoughts, or emotions you identify as you eat. You should begin to identify patterns to your excessive eating fairly quickly.
When emotional hunger rumbles, one of its distinguishing characteristics is that you’re focused on a particular food, which is likely a comfort food. Comfort foods are foods a person eats to obtain or maintain a feeling. Comfort foods are often wrongly associated with negative moods, and indeed, people often consume them when they’re down or depressed, but interestingly enough, comfort foods are also consumed to maintain good moods.
Ice cream is first on the comfort food list. After ice cream, comfort foods break down by sex: For women it’s chocolate and cookies; for men it’s pizza, steak, and casserole.
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Filed under Blog, Nutrition Tips & Strategies, Weight Loss Strategies by Dr. Saman
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Comments on Emotional Eating Part 1 »
5:20 pm
@Great article! Emotional eating is a huge problem in society. right next to emotional drinking.
Jonas
8:40 am
@> eating in you, keep a food diary that records what and
A good addition to this is a very good program I have been using, Food And Exercise Diary (WeightLossSoftware.Com). It is a food diary, medical diary, and exercise diary. Lots of functions.
12:24 pm
@I’m sure everyone has some sort of unhealthy food “trigger”. Like you Sam, I tend to lose my appetite under stress. I found that if I keep my exercise routine regular, and literally write my daily food intake on a sheet of paper (like my “menu” for the day), it helps me be sure and get the nutrients I need – or close to it – at least until I work through the stress…
On the other hand, I have a best friend who has suffered with emotional eating her entire life, due to dysfunctional eating patterns set by her parents. She is 43 now, and just underwent gastric bypass surgery.
My hope, and daily prayer is that parents would place a much higher priority on healthful eating for their kids. Emotional eating can be just as deadly as drugs and alcohol, and can plague a person throughout their lifetime, if they do not get the help they need.
Great article Sam, especially since it seems unhealthful eating habits are more prevalent now, than ever – especially with our youth 🙁
3:43 pm
@My prayers and best of wishes for your friend Cheryl. You are completely right about setting examples for our youth.
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