This post is sponsored by Eat My Way, which is an intuitive food app that I highly recommend.
Most of us have been subjected to the message that any emotional food is bad for us.
That emotional eaters can’t control themselves.
This emotional eating happens when we’re going through something bad – epitomize the sad, lonely woman with her ice cream!
The truth is, we all eat emotionally and it’s actually quite normal!
What is Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating doesn’t just happen when we’re sad. Many people report emotional eating due to stress and anxiety, happiness or fear. We may also emotionally eat when we are lonely, angry, or frustrated.
Recent research shows that when we eat emotionally, we tend to choose foods that are high in energy and high in fat or sugar. The study also found that emotional eaters often experience negative feelings about their physical appearance immediately after an emotional eating episode.
Emotional eating is closely related to eating disorders. Especially in people with Binge Eating Disorder, Emotional eating can be a way of coping with negative emotions. It is important to understand that not all binge eaters have an eating disorder. There are many more criteria that must be met to make this diagnosis.
Emotional food it can have detrimental effects on our health when it’s done frequently and when it’s the only coping tool we have in our coping toolbox. If this is the case, we need to look at other ways of dealing with our emotions.
Physical hunger vs emotional hunger
Keep in mind that whatever your reason is for eating, you are allowed to have that reason. Acknowledging that you are eating out of hunger is not a judgment on you as an individual.
Being able to discern the emotion Physical hunger from emotional hunger is an important step in determining why you eat and whether, instead of food, really something else.
Often, when we eat out of hunger, we are trying to satisfy another need, such as comfort.
Let’s talk about the signs of physical hunger. They are often:
Grumbling stomach
Fatigue
Irritable
Headache
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Focus problem
Obsessive thoughts about food
It’s coming slowly
Instead, the signs of emotional hunger are often:
Intense craving for a certain food
It comes suddenly
Appears next to strong emotions
There are times when the symptoms of each type of hunger overlap. For example, feeling strong emotions can be a sign of physical hunger OR emotional hunger. In these times, it can be hard to sort out what kind of hunger we’re experiencing, and that’s okay! Have a snack and see if the symptoms you are experiencing subside.
How do I know if my emotional eating is a problem?
Emotional eating, when done frequently or in a specific way, can affect our ability to live our best lives both physically and emotionally. Understanding how your emotional eating affects your life and understanding your triggers are both great steps in learning how to deal with it.
Your emotional eating may be a problem if:
Feeling guilty or ashamed after emotional eating
You often eat in secret to hide your emotional eating
Food is your only way to deal with emotions, especially unpleasant ones
Emotional eating becomes disruptive to your health and well-being – socially, emotionally, financially and physically
How do I end my emotional eating?
Let’s just be clear: just because emotional eating isn’t inherently “bad,” there’s no reason to stop emotional eating altogether. We’ll all get a piece of cake when we feel joy at a party!
But again, if you often use food as a coping mechanism and are experiencing harmful side effects from your emotional eating, it’s a good idea to find another way to deal with your emotions.
Steps to change coping mechanisms
Here are some steps to take to help you overcome frequent emotional eating:
Way He eats emotionally path can help you understand your emotions and how you react to them to help you find more peace in your relationship with food. We can’t stop our emotions, but we can see and use them differently. There is only one way intuitive food app which makes understanding emotions more interactive and easy.
Identify your triggers. Emotional eating by its very nature is eating because of a trigger. Even if your eating out of hunger doesn’t seem to be associated with an emotion, it probably is. What you are feeling at that moment and identify any situations that have caused you distress in the past. Are you experiencing this situation, or a similar one, now?
Sit in your feelings. Allowing yourself to experience all the emotions helps you process them. Masking emotions with food or anything else allows those emotions to develop. This can affect your quality of life and your mental health.
Ask yourself what you really need. Do you need food? A hug? Need to talk to someone or get out in nature? Emotional eating often stems from a need other than hunger. Try to identify this need and satisfy it.
Dealing with hard feelings is often very difficult and is certainly a process that takes time. Give yourself the grace to take this time, do the work, and be kind to yourself while you figure it out.
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