Emotional Eating

by Tala Mustafa - Clinical Dietitian at Aman Lil Afia Clinic

We’ve all been there, turning to food for comfort and giving in for strong urges to eat when our emotions are intense, consciously, or unconsciously. Learn how emotional eating can affect your physical and psychological health and how to create better eating habits.

What is Emotional Hunger?

Emotional hunger is the thoughts of desire for food, independent of physical hunger in response to emotional triggers such as stress, sadness, anger, boredom, loneliness, etc. With emotional hunger one is generally drawn to comfort foods and foods that produce dopamine effect like foods that are high in sugar, salt, and fats. Also, the quantity of food consumed tends to be larger while the satisfaction from eating is temporary and might be followed by guilt and shame.

In a positive mood, individuals are more likely to prefer foods that are high in nutrients in favor of their health and nutrition, while in negative moods, individuals would prefer eating comfort foods in favor of their mood management that is associated with taste and sensory experiences.

It is important to note that Emotional Eating and cravings are formed and reinforced through habit loops.

How is Physical Hunger different form Emotional Hunger?

Physical hunger is the feeling of emptiness in the stomach along with physical discomfort that can range from stomach growling and slight discomfort to severe hunger pangs and physical pain.? Physical hunger also results in low blood sugar levels that can result in fatigue, weakness, headache and irritability or mood changes.

In physical hunger, eating reduces or resolves the symptoms of hunger.

Emotional hunger is usually felt in the mouth, while physical hunger is felt in the stomach.

What triggers Emotional Eating?

Emotional hunger is triggered by a range of feelings and thoughts that include excitement, depression, stress, anxiety, sadness, fear, boredom, self-loathing, grief, loneliness, and lack of reward.

What are the consequences of Emotional Eating?

Emotional Eating can be part of normal eating in reaction to certain emotions or situations. Nevertheless, emotional eating starts to become problematic when it becomes a chronic and frequent coping mechanism with emotions that can lead to negative psychological and metabolic consequences.

The Psychological consequences of chronic emotional eating include the feelings of shame and guilt, secretive behaviors like eating in secret, significant mood alterations, feelings of failure, food obsession and finally disordered eating behaviors.

The metabolic consequences recurrent episodes of emotional eating comfort foods in large quantities can include unintentional weight gain and slowed metabolism, digestive distress and disorders like bloating and hurt burn, bowel irregularities, and microbiome alterations.

Coping skills and techniques to deal with difficult emotions and reduce emotional eating:

1. To understand emotional eating and its triggers.
2. Clarifying values that include identifying health and wellness values of the individual.
3. Cognitive Diffusion through a mindful strategy that involves recognizing psychological experiences objectively rather than perceiving them as threats or realities. It can also include guided meditations and affirmations or scripts to defuse negative thoughts. ?For example, “I notice I have this craving (describe it fully), I accept this in this moment, thank you mind, breath out.”
4. Acceptance of emotions can be helpful to create space for emotions, impulses and feeling while also allowing us to avoid wasting too much energy on them so that we can move on more easily. Meanwhile suppression and avoidance can have detrimental effects over time and can amplify the thoughts and emotions the individual is trying to suppress or avoid.?
5. Behavioral commitment to action through identifying specific goals in terms of eating habits and coping mechanisms, the values underlying the goals, and the actions that will be taken to achieve the goal.
6. Self-compassion through observing oneself and viewing the psychological and physical experiences as transient and changing states. Also, understating that our thoughts and emotions don’t define us, yet they are a dynamic part of our being.
7. Regular check-Ins: Check in with your body cues of hunger, fullness, feelings, and triggers to eat at every meal.
8. Meal planning and structure: Plan a structured eating pattern that involves meals and snacks every 3 to 4 hours. Allow meal planning to involve balanced, nutritious, and fulfilling meals and snacks that contains proteins, fibers, calcium, and fats. Structured and balanced meals help in blood sugar control which in turn provides physiological balance and therefore reduces cravings.
9. Mindfulness tip during meal or snack times: put your snack or meal on a plate, sit and relax, engage your senses, and make it a mindful experience. Limit external distractions like mobiles and TV. Also, amplify your sensory experience with food, notice how it looks, feels, smells, and tastes and allow the body to self-regulate and discover the feeling of satiety.
10. Build a toolkit of non-food methods for coping that can include breathing exercises, journaling, naming the emotion, identifying where it sits in the body and sitting with difficult emotions without judgments.
11. Building social support through meaningful connections with family and friends
12. Giving yourself the permission to eat with intention that involves nourishment and enjoyment.
13. Craving management through Keeping a Craving Card in mind whenever the urge to eat arises. Craving cards include asking yourself questions like:

a ) Am I hungry or nutritionally imbalanced?

b ) Am I tired, lonely or premenstrual?

c ) Did I eat a trigger food?

d ) What else would I be wanting?

e ) Would something else help?

f ) Is there something I’m not saying?

The takeaway message:

It is important to acknowledge that emotional eating can be a helpful part of normal eating until it becomes detrimental to your health. Therefore, learning your body physiological balance, and your emotional triggers and status is an essential part of managing emotional eating.

If your emotional eating habits are in the way of your weight goals, remind yourself that your body is happy to release the weight when it is well nourished, balanced, strong, feeling good and energetic.

Finally, remember that sustainable changes take time, and you can use your setbacks as learning lessons to improve your eating habits.

If your emotional eating habits are affecting your health and weight, seek out professional help to improve your overall wellbeing, and build a healthy relationship with food.