Emotional Eating
Emotional Eating 101
What is it? Turning to food for comfort, stress relief, boredom, habits, social influences or to reward.
Are you an Emotional Eater?
Do you eat more when you’re feeling stressed?
Do you eat when you’re not hungry or when you’re already full?
Do you eat to feel better (to calm and soothe when you’re sad, mad, bored, or anxious?)
Do you reward yourself with food?
Do you regularly eat until you’ve stuffed yourself?
Does food make you feel safe or like a friend?
Do you feel powerless or out of control around food at times?
(Source: helpguide.org)
Physical hunger vs Emotional hunger
It develops slowly over time. Vs It comes about suddenly or abruptly.
You desire a variety of food groups. Vs You crave only certain foods.
You feel the sensation of fullness and take it as a cue to stop eating. Vs You may binge on food and not feel a sensation of fullness.
You have no negative feelings about eating. Vs You feel guilt or shame about eating.
PAUSE
When the cravings and the emotions hit, check in. Give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision than mindlessly reaching into the freezer for the tub of ice cream. While filling up may work in the moment, eating because of negative emotions often leaves people feeling more upset than before. Set a timer, give yourself 10 minutes. Think about WHY you want to eat. How are you feeling? Allow yourself to feel that discomfort. Face your stuff don’t stuff your face. Learn to rein in the stress and repair emotional problems without food. You can do it!
“FACE YOUR STUFF.
DON’T STUFF YOUR FACE”
Use the Hunger fullness scale. Learn how to eat when you are hungry and stop when satisfied and comfortably full.
0-1 that’s not hunger, that’s famished.
9-10 That’s not fullness, that’s painfully stuffed.
Make a point to eat when you first get hungry- that's a 3-5 on the scale. The reason why, that's the secret of being able to stop when you are comfortably full- that's a 6-7 on the scale. Also wise to eat when you first get hungry because you are more likely to enjoy your food, more likely to eat more mindfully, and your body will naturally crave more nutritious options. Think about the foods you crave when you let yourself get too hungry- the fattest, oiliest, deep fried thing. You are eating very fast, not paying attention.
One of the BIGGEST predictors of over eating is when you allow yourself to get too hungry. Although what you eat is important it turns out how you eat is just important. For some of us it may be more important.
It takes time to shift your mindset from reaching for food to all of the sudden engaging in other forms of stress relief, so be gentle with yourself. There are many ways we can honor our feelings without using food. Allowing ourselves to feel the emotion and talking with a friend or a professional, exercise, meditation, read a book, start a food diary to be accountable, or positive self-talk. Emotional hunger should be addressed, but not with food — instead with patience, with inner work, and with building your self-awareness.
There is a lot more to emotional eating than just... eating. Take a beat and check in with yourself. You are strong enough inside and out to do the work that needs to be done to tackle any feels that come your way.