What is Emotional Eating? Know The Signs, Symptoms And Causes

Emotional Eating: The foods you reach for to help you feel better could really make you feel terrible. Fortunately, there are ways to ensure that your feelings don’t permanently harm your diet.

Emotional eating refers to using food as a coping mechanism for both good and adverse feelings. It is a frequent problem that many individuals deal with, which may negatively affect their general health and well-being. In contrast to physical hunger, emotional eating is typically motivated by psychological or emotional needs rather than nutritional requirements.

Emotional Eating Causes:

As you try to cut back on harmful stuff, you frequently restrict how much you eat and exclude particular meals, which can contribute to emotional eating. Did you know situational stress like COVID-19 can also lead to emotional eating? Many individuals tend to eat more when they’re stressed, while some people do the reverse.

Emotional Eating Symptoms:

There are no distinct symptoms or indications of emotional eating, however, a person’s eating habits may be inconsistent. One of the things that patients do is eat as a reward for a stressful day or event and/or to relieve their mental strain. The majority of the time, impulsive behaviour or an emotional upsurge precedes the emotional experience.

8 SIGNS YOU ARE AN EMOTIONAL EATER

1. Eating When NOT Hungry: When someone eats even when they are not hungry, this is one of the most obvious indications of emotional eating. They eat to satiate an emotional need rather than to nourish their bodies.
2. Food Cravings: People who emotionally eat could develop cravings for particular foods based on their feelings. For instance, individuals can want comfort foods like ice cream or pizza if they are feeling anxious.
3. Eating By Themselves: Emotional eaters can prefer to eat by themselves or in silence. This behaviour could be an effort to conceal one’s eating habits from observers in order to spare criticism or censure.
4. No Control Over Appetite: Emotional eaters could have trouble controlling their appetites and preventing overeating. For instance, you struggle with portion control. This may result in gaining weight and other health issues.
5. Comfort Food: Even after they are full, emotional eaters could keep eating. Regardless of the quantity of food they eat, individuals could get comfort or pleasure from the process of eating.
6. Guilt Eating: Many people experience guilt or embarrassment after overeating emotionally. Insomnia may result from these unfavourable feelings, which can create a vicious cycle.
7. Triggers: Specific triggers are frequently what causes emotional eaters to engage in their eating behaviour. These triggers might be emotional occurrences, stresses, or environmental signals like seeing a favourite dish or being in a certain place.
8. Escaping Emotions: The most typical indicator of emotional eating is turning to food for solace and security. Without expert help, it may be challenging to change this behaviour, which is frequently based on traumatic memories or childhood events.

If you struggle with emotional eating, it’s advisable to consult a doctor or therapist for an evaluation to ascertain whether you are suffering from an underlying medical condition or anything else.