Emotional Eating – Part 1
Eating for reasons other than hunger is part of a normal eating pattern. We eat for lots of reasons including boredom, loneliness and fun.
So, if this is a normal pattern how do we know if we have a problem with emotional eating? Emotional eating is an issue if we turn to food as our only means of coping with difficult emotions, whether that’s to numb, escape or change our feelings. This has nothing do with willpower or weakness. Emotional eating is simply an adaptive response that’s been needed to help you manage thoughts and feelings that feel difficult or intrusive in someway, but now it’s become a problem in itself that needs addressing.
With the right support you can learn other strategies to help you manage difficult emotions and move away from using food as your only means of finding comfort and solace. The first place to start is to bring awareness to your eating patterns with curiosity and kindness and without judgement.
Triggers in those who emotionally eat can include; having unstructured time, boredom, coming home and feeling tense, but there can be many other reasons too.
Signs that suggest you might be an emotional eater include:
Do you eat more when stressed or bored despite not feeling hungry?
Do you eat past feeling full and satisfied?
Do you crave specific foods?
Do you eat alone or in secret?
Do you feel guilty after eating?
If you answered yes to any of these and would like support, then do reach out. Emotional eating can leave us feeling very isolated and stressed but you don’t have to do this work alone.
In the meantime, here are some steps to consider
Ditch restrictive diets. Emotional eating is a common side effect of dieting. It’s associated with an increase in disinhibited eating which is the tendency to overeat in response to different stimuli including emotional stress. The first step to addressing emotional eating is to ensure the brain is well nourished and this starts with ditching the diet mentality. This is a challenging concept for many, so do reach out for help. You don’t have to do this on your own.
Ditch restrictive thinking. Restriction can also be psychological. This is where the labelling of foods as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ can lead to us being caught in a restrict-binge cycle. It’s important to start seeing all foods as part of a balanced diet and to try and create more neutrality around high energy foods. If we have the thought we can never eat “x” it creates more excitement when we do have it and we will end up over eating it. Moving towards eating in a balanced way, and planning when we will have chocolate in our diet, takes away that excitement and makes it less interesting so you’re much less likely to binge on it when you do have it. Working with an eating disorder coach who can help work on restrictive food rules may also be helpful here.
Avoid skipping meals. Skipping meals can lead to a drop in blood sugar which will leave you at risk of cravings later on in the day as the body is desperate for glucose to bring your energy back up. Aim to eat at regular intervals during the day to keep your blood sugar levels steady and balanced. This often looks like three meals a day plus one or two snacks but it’s important to work with an experienced nutritionist to work out what works best for you.
Understand your triggers. Using a mood and food diary is a brilliant tool to help become aware of how we eat and in response to what triggers. Triggers in those who emotionally eat can include; having unstructured time, boredom, coming home and feeling tense, but there can be many other reasons too. Try and foster a sense of curiosity with your emotional eating. Observe what’s happening with kindness and without judgement. Having a self-care toolbox to hand is really helpful. Plan ahead with ideas of what you might do next time you’re feeling really stressed. Could it be that you phone a friend, watch videos of puppies playing online, have a hot bath or take yourself for a walk. If you need help doing this work, do reach out.
I hope that’s been helpful. I’ll be posting more on how to cope with emotional eating in part 2. If you’re struggling with emotional eating please seek support from your GP, psychologist or eating disorder nutritionist.
BEAT and NCFED both have fantastic resources, or if you’d like 1:1 support then head to the contact page to schedule a 15 minute chat.
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