Do you often eat after an unpleasant experience? Do you find yourself craving for food even when you’re not hungry? Do you turn to food to make you feel better? If you do then you could be an emotional eater. An emotional eater is someone who eats not because he or she is hungry but as a response to a mood or an emotion, both positive and negative.
Emotional eating is dangerous because it leads one to take food that the body does not need. Food that is often high in fat and high in calories. Emotional eating can lead to weight gain, and more often than not, to excess weight. We all know that when a person is overweight he opens a door to a myriad of diseases and conditions that can afflict the body. What exactly are the reasons people emotionally eat and how do you solve this problem?
One of the reasons why people emotionally eat is because of too much stress. When a person experiences continuous stress in his life, increased levels of cortisol is released. High doses of cortisol makes a person crave for salty and sweet food. That is why when you are stressed you often crave for your favorite ice cream or a bag of chips. The social patterns that we have established as we are growing up can also be a cause of emotional eating. It is not uncommon for friends to get together and talk when they have problems. These social gatherings often involve talking over lunch or cake or pizza or may be some chips and beer. People who are in pain seek social support from other people. And with this social support comes munching on your favorite comfort food. Through time this behavioral pattern becomes engraved in one’s mind and whenever one has problems one turns to friends and food.
Another reason for emotional eating that involves social patterns are family traditions. Whether it is going out for ice cream or eating when celebrating or eating when getting together, one will be hard pressed to find someone who has no fond childhood memories that involves some emotionally charged dining experience. These traditions or childhood experiences have been engrained in our memory and when times get tough or really well, we turn to what we have been used to: eating. Aside from our social patterns, people also eat to hide from their emotions or as a direct response or coping mechanism to emotions. Food becomes an escape or a temporary reliever of what one feels.
While we cannot run away from the sad and happy moments in our life and the stress that our everyday activities bring, we can find a way to combat emotional eating and ultimately excess weight. The first thing to do is to evaluate yourself and examine how you feel. You have to note the difference when you are really hungry and when you are just craving for food because of your emotions. Write down what you eat, when you eat them, how you feel before you eat and how hungry you are. A pattern of eating will emerge and you will see what events in your life ‘trigger’ your emotional eating.
Once you know the reasons, you are in a better position to respond to them differently. Rather than emotionally eating, you can choose to do some other things or activity to alleviate your emotion. You can exercise or go on a walk, talk to a friend, read a book, pray or do any other healthy thing that would help you cope. It would also be a good idea to only eat healthy food. Keep comfort food, fatty and high calorie food to a minimum. If you can, don’t stock up any of these foods at home. Stay healthy by eating a balance and regular diet, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep.
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