Do you eat when you're anxious? Does food makes you feel better? If you see yourself in any of these situations, you are an emotional overeater, a person who eats in response to his or her feelings; a person whose overeating has nothing do with hunger.
When we experience overwhelming feelings, it's natural to turn to external things that help us deal with the issue. These coping mechanisms can be constructive, like working out or writing, or destructive, like getting drunk and narcotics. For some people, eating is the outlet they turn to when feeling negative emotions. Emotional eating is a way to suppress worrisome feelings for many people.
What is Emotional Overeating?
When life gets too stressful, boring or tense, food can be the emotional anesthetic that makes someone feel better. For many people, food is an emotionally addictive anesthetic. Hence, to balance those unpleasantly feelings, people start to binge on junk food because these common comfort foods discharge chemicals or hormones that improve your disposition, so they can be chemically as well as psychologically comforting.
Millions of people overeat in an attempt to numb unpleasant feelings with food. It protects them from tension and worries. As strange as it may seem, emotional overeating can be calming; it "works", at least in the short run. Comfort food can be soothing when a person is faced with emotional upheaval. It can remind them of happier or calmer times.
Am I an Emotional Eater?
There are several characteristics that are identified with emotional eating. If you don't recognize these, they can lead to continuing weight gain or the lack of a balanced and nutritious lifestyle. An emotional eater will often eat if they feel angry, depressed, bored or stressed out. For example, one who eats from emotion might head straight for the refrigerator after they come home from a stressful day at work. Another person might find it difficult to talk openly about his or her emotions with others, instead, food takes the place of talking. But these are only a few of the triggers of emotional overeating.
What can I do about it?
Emotional eating is a hard habit to get out of. However, there are many tips to help you quit this dangerous tendency.
- To overcome emotional overeating, an over-eater must be willing to change. Otherwise, the disorder will typically become worse and, like any other addiction, result in additional consequences.
- Identify which emotions are causing this problem. They could be anger, frustration, boredom, insecurity etc.
- If you notice that you are eating from emotion, move away from where the food is. You can go into another area until you calm down and regain control of your emotions.
- Don't keep junk foods around, because it's much easier to fight those urges when junk food isn't readily available. Alternatively, attempt to replace calorie laden junk foods with healthier alternatives.
- Make a list of things you can do to sidetrack yourself when emotional eating threatens, such as go for a jog, take a short nap, or read a book.
- Get plenty of rest, exercise and eat a balanced diet during your regular meals. A healthier approach to life can help you break bad habits and feel better overall.
Emotional eating problems are very common. They occur in all sorts of people. If you feel that you have an eating problem, it is important to begin the process of solving it. This will help you to eat healthier, live a more balanced lifestyle, and lose weight. Recognizing the problem is the most important factor in moving past your emotional overeating.
