Emotional Eating Is a Thing
A topic that comes up frequently with my clients—and honestly in everyday—is emotional eating. Often not a topic that people want to readily admit, but it's a large part of life for many people.
Common scenarios that trigger emotional eating include boredom, stress, sadness or loneliness. When it's become a part of your afternoon or evening routine, or you find yourself grazing all day, it can be a really tough habit to break.
Why does emotional eating happen in the first place?
When we're stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, our bodies release cortisol, a hormone that triggers our "fight or flight" response. This can cause us to crave processed, high-fat, high-sugar foods, which can temporarily soothe our emotions but ultimately leave us feeling worse in the long run.
Though boredom and stress are pretty common triggers, there are others that can contribute to the behavior:
Fatigue: When you're tired, your body craves quick sources of energy, which can lead to cravings for high-carb, high-sugar foods.
Negative emotions: Any negative emotion—sadness, anger, frustration—can trigger emotional eating. These emotions can make us seek out comfort in food.
Social pressure: When we're in social situations, we may feel pressure to eat or drink certain foods or beverages, even if we're not hungry or don’t want them.
Restrictive dieting: When we deprive ourselves of certain foods or food groups, we may feel strong cravings for those foods, leading to emotional eating.
Environmental cues: Our surroundings can also trigger emotional eating. For example, seeing a commercial for a fast food restaurant or walking by a bakery can lead to cravings for those french fries or donut.
Some things my clients and I discuss to help manage emotional eating include these tips:
Figure out your triggers. When do you tend to reach for unhealthy foods? Is it when you're feeling stressed at work, or when you're bored at home? Once you know what triggers your emotional eating, you can start to develop strategies for managing those situations.
Find healthier substitutes. Instead of reaching for a pint of ice cream, try eating some yogurt with fruit or dark chocolate. Try subbing in cucumber or seed crackers and hummus for a bag of chips. These foods can satisfy your sweet/salty tooth without derailing your health goals completely.
Practice mindfulness. It's not as woo-woo as you think! Before you reach for that bag of chips, take a deep breath or pause, and ask yourself if you're really hungry or if you're just feeling stressed, angry, upset, sad, etc. If it's the latter, try doing a quick mindfulness exercise, like taking a short walk or practicing deep breathing.
Ask for help. Lots of people go through the same thing. Talk to a friend or family member about your struggles with emotional eating, or consider working with a health coach (shameless plug!) who can help you develop personalized strategies for managing your emotions and habits, and achieving your health goals.
Managing emotional eating is a journey—like everything else—not a destination. It's okay to get derailed from time to time (this is just a temporary blip). The key is to keep working towards your goals each day and remaining kind to yourself in the process.
