Understanding Emotional Eating

 

By OMODELE Goodness 

We don’t always eat solely to satisfy physical hunger. Many also use food for comfort, stress relief, or reward. Often, this leads us to choose ‘comfort foods’ such as junk food, sweets, and other unhealthy options. You might grab a bottle of soft drink when feeling low, indulge in two or more packs of foil cake out of boredom or loneliness, or after a stressful day in class.

According to Wikipedia, Emotional eating, or stress eating or emotional overeating, is the tendency to eat in response to both positive and negative emotions. While it is often associated with using food to cope with negative feelings, it can also involve eating during positive emotional states, such as overeating to celebrate an event or to elevate an already good mood.

 Emotional eating involves using food to improve your mood or fulfill emotional needs, rather than to satisfy physical hunger.

Using food occasionally as a reward or to celebrate isn’t inherently harmful. However, when eating becomes your main way of coping with emotions—when your first instinct is to head to the store for a favourite treat whenever you feel stressed, sad, angry, lonely, exhausted, or bored—you may find yourself trapped in an unhealthy cycle. In this cycle, the underlying emotions or problems remain unresolved.

Complications of Emotional Eating

Consuming more food than your body requires can lead to serious health risks. Emotional eaters often gain excess weight, which increases their likelihood of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and cancer. In addition to physical risks, overeating also carries emotional consequences, including feelings of guilt or embarrassment afterwards.

Common Causes of Emotional Eating

Stress, emotional triggers, and habits can all contribute to overeating. When stressed, your body releases cortisol, which increases cravings for salty, sweet, and fried foods. This leads to emotional eating for relief. Similarly, eating can serve as a temporary escape to "stuff down" emotions like anger, sadness, or anxiety. 

Boredom or feelings of emptiness can also drive you to eat, as food temporarily fills the void. Childhood habits, such as associating food with rewards or comfort, can become an attitude into adulthood influencing eating patterns.

Social situations can further encourage overeating, whether due to the presence of food, group pressure, or nervousness. 

Additionally, relationship issues and breakups, work-related stress, fatigue, financial pressures, and health concerns can all be significant emotional triggers for overeating, as these challenges often lead to seeking comfort through food.

Tips to Manage Emotional Eating

Track Eating Habits: Use a food diary to identify mood-food patterns.

Reduce Stress: Practice yoga, meditation, or deep breathing.

Assess Hunger: Distinguish physical hunger from emotional cravings.

Seek Support: Rely on friends, family, or support groups.

Stay Busy: Engage in activities to prevent boredom from eating.

Avoid Temptation: Keep unhealthy foods out of reach.

Allow Treats: Avoid overly restrictive diets and enjoy variety.

Choose Healthy Snacks: Opt for fruits, vegetables, or lighter alternatives.

It is also important to talk to a therapist if the em

otional eating worsens.