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You may feel increasingly excited as you imagine how it will taste and how you’ll feel eating it. Maybe you last ate several hours ago, or maybe you’re still digesting your last meal. These urges are called cravings, which can pop up at any moment, and aren’t always fueled by hunger pangs.
- Overview
- What causes someone to eat because of their emotions?
- Emotional hunger vs. physical hunger
- How to stop emotional eating
- When to seek help
Do you race to the pantry when you feel down or otherwise upset? You’re not alone. It’s common for people to turn to food for comfort as a way to cope with big, difficult feelings.
When you eat in response to emotions, it’s called emotional eating. Everyone does it sometimes.
Our bodies need food to survive. It makes sense that eating lights up the reward system in the brain and makes you feel better.
When emotional eating happens often, and you don’t have other ways to cope, it can be a problem.
Although it may feel like a way to cope in those moments, eating doesn’t address the true issue. If you’re feeling stressed, anxious, bored, lonely, sad, or tired, food won’t fix those feelings.
For some people, this cycle of turning to food to cope creates guilt and shame — more tough feelings to navigate.
Almost anything can trigger a desire to eat. Common external reasons for emotional eating may include:
•work stress
•financial worries
•health issues
•relationship struggles
People who follow restrictive diets or have a history of dieting are more likely to emotionally eat.
Humans must eat to live. It’s natural to need food and to desire certain tastes or textures.
You may wonder how to tell the difference between emotional and physical hunger cues. It can be tricky. Sometimes, it’s a combination of both.
If you haven’t eaten for several hours, or generally don’t eat enough in a day, you are more likely to experience emotional eating.
Here are some clues to help you tell the difference.
Start an emotion diary
The more you understand your habits, the better. Eating in response to emotion can happen automatically. The more you understand how you feel when you do certain things, the better your chance at changing things. Try keeping a record of those times when you eat but are not physically hungry. Make a note of: •what was happening •how you were feeling •any emotions you noticed when you got the urge to eat You may also want to include a place to write what you did. Did you eat right away? Did you wait a few minutes? Did you do something to distract yourself? Try not to judge yourself on your findings. Try to be genuinely curious about what is happening when you eat in response to emotions. This takes a lot of practice. Be kind to yourself as you start to explore. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Find other ways to cope
Once you have more information about the emotions, situations, or thoughts that can trigger eating, you can start to make changes. If you notice that you always eat when you feel stressed, it’s the stress that needs attention. Think about some things you can do to better relieve your stress. If you notice you eat when you’re bored, consider ways to manage your boredom. What else could you do to fill your time? It takes time and practice to shift your mindset from reaching for food to engaging in other activities. Experiment with different things to find what works for you.
Move your body
Moving your body can be a powerful way to manage stress and anxiety. Activity helps to reduce levels of stress hormones in your body. It also releases endorphins to give your mood a boost. An exercise routine can help manage underlying emotional triggers for eating. It doesn’t have to be intense. If you’re not currently active, consider doing a five-minute walk or some gentle stretching. Notice how this makes you feel. There seems to be an extra benefit to mindfulness movements like yoga. People who routinely practice yoga report overall lower levels of stress and anxiety.
Change is hard work, but you deserve to feel better. Making changes to your emotional eating can be an opportunity to get more in touch with yourself and your feelings.
Emotional eating can be part of disordered eating. Disordered eating behaviors can lead to developing an eating disorder. You don’t need to have a diagnosed eating disorder to seek help.
If you are feeling uncomfortable with your eating, reach out for support. It’s brave to ask for help if you are struggling.
You can talk with your healthcare professional about your concerns. You can also connect with a mental health professional or a dietitian to help you address both the physical and mental sides of emotional eating.
- You Have Sudden Food Cravings for Specific, High-Fat Foods. While not all eating is or should be in response to physiological hunger, there tends to be a difference between hunger that’s spurred by a physical need to eat and hunger that’s spurred by emotions.
- You Find Yourself Mindlessly Stress Eating. If after hearing bad news or fighting with your partner, you grab a bag of chips and start chowing down, only to realize the bag is gone before you know it, it could be a sign that stress eating is taking a toll.
- You Eat Even When You’re Not Hungry. Another sign that emotional eating could be problematic is if you often eat when you’re not hungry or continue eating when you’re already full.
- Emotional Eating Is Your Go-To Way of Coping. Occasionally using food to help cope with a tough situation is normal, says Laing and other experts interviewed for this article.
Nov 12, 2021 · Certain foods are more likely to trigger emotional eating. Know exactly which snacks you tend to reach for when feeling stressed. Don’t let yourself get too hungry. You’ve probably heard the ...
- Julie Marks
- Leafy Green Vegetables. Leafy greens like spinach, collard greens, and kale contain magnesium, which may help with mood. Studies show that people with depression are more likely to have low levels of magnesium.
- Berries. Berries, like raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, are loaded with antioxidants, which help protect your body from cell damage.
- Turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan, an amino acid your body uses to make the mood-regulating chemical serotonin. Studies have found people who consume tryptophan have a lower risk of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Carrots. Carrots supply unique antioxidants called carotenoids, known to have anti-inflammatory effects on the body. In some studies, consuming more carotenoids has been shown to lower symptoms of depression and anxiety.
May 26, 2023 · Research is increasingly finding connections between anxiety disorders, depression, and overeating. But it’s possible to spot the signs of these overlapping conditions and seek out the kind of care that can help ease the emotional pain.
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Oct 11, 2020 · Identify foods that precede or trigger your cravings, and avoid them. Engage in alternative strategies for your attention , such as computer games, relaxation, and exercise. Drink water...
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related to: how do you deal with food cravings and depression and anxiety symptoms chartThis Add-On May Help Adults Decrease Depression Symptoms More Than An Antidepressant Alone. Ask Your Doctor About Adding This Treatment To Your Antidepressant. Official Patient Site.
