Emotional Eating

Picture this …

  • You’ve just completed your last exam for the year – it is officially Christmas break. You and all your friends head over to get a celebratory pastry and hot chocolate.
  • You’re sitting on your couch, cuddled up with blankets, watching the Notebook for the 75th time, as you shove handfuls of popcorn into your mouth while tears stream down your face. 
  • You’re approaching a deadline at work but instead of focusing on your task, you’re pacing up and down your kitchen, raiding your cupboard for snacks.

Do any of these scenarios feel familiar to you? Your response is likely ‘yes’ because food is a fundamental part of our lives. It nourishes our bodies, provides sustenance, and brings people together. It is the focal point of celebrations and social gatherings. Food can even act as a reward for one’s accomplishments or a means of relief in times of stress or sorrow – and that’s okay. Turning to food for comfort is a normal human instinct. After all, we soothe crying babies with milk!     

In this blog post, we will delve into the concept of emotional eating, its underlying causes, its effects on our bodies, and other strategies to manage our emotions.

What is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is the tendency to consume food as a response to emotional triggers, rather than physical hunger. It involves using food to cope with negative emotions, such as stress, sadness, loneliness, or boredom. During these times, individuals may find comfort, distraction, or temporary relief by turning to food (1).

 

Causes of Emotional Eating

Emotional eating can stem from various factors, and it often differs from person to person. Some common causes include:

  • Emotional Triggers: Emotional eating can be triggered by distressing situations, such as relationship problems, work stress, financial difficulties, or personal setbacks. The emotional discomfort leads individuals to seek comfort in food.
  • Learned Behavior: Some people develop a pattern of using food as a coping mechanism during childhood. For instance, being bribed with sweets or treats to soothe or mask emotions can create a habit that persists into adulthood.
  • Basic physiology: when faced with chronic stress, the emotion processing center in our brains known as the amygdala signals a release of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that stimulates appetite and desire for highly palatable foods. Your body is trying to ensure that you have sufficient energy to engage in fight or flight.

The Cycle of Emotional Eating

Emotional eating typically follows a cyclical pattern, especially if there are no other coping mechanisms to disrupt it. A negative emotion, such as sadness or stress, arises from various circumstances. These negative emotions signal cravings and consumption of food usually high in sugar, salt, or fat to counteract these feelings. Consuming comfort foods provides temporary relief or distraction from the emotional discomfort. However, upon the cessation of eating, these negative feelings and self-awareness return, often leading to feelings of shame, guilt or regret due to overeating or consuming unhealthy food choices. The cycle thus perpetuates itself as the emotional triggers persist.

Eating in response to emotions may be instinctual or automatic if it’s the only way you know how to comfort yourself. However, once you’ve gotten to the bottom of your popcorn bowl, your problems will still be there. All coping mechanisms, including eating, do not directly address our problems, but rather help get us to a calmer, more rational state of mind to deal with them logically. So, let’s treat our emotions with kindness and pave the way towards more constructive problem-solving strategies.

Effects of Emotional Eating

Emotional eating (if relied on exclusively as a coping mechanism) can have negative effects on how we process our emotions, and perceive ourselves. Without other tools or techniques to manage one’s emotions, it can lead to: 

  • Emotional dysregulation: although emotional eating may provide temporary relief, it is just that – temporary. It provides an avoidance tactic to delay addressing the underlying issue. This is completely okay for a short time. However, If the cycle persists without other strategies to disrupt it, emotional eating can lead to suppression of emotions and difficulty identifying and processing them.
  • Poor self-esteem and body image: emotional eating can negatively impact self-esteem and body image, in relation to feelings of shame and guilt that are intertwined with episodes of emotional eating. Can we change the narrative that emotional eating is “bad” or maladaptive? Instead, we can appreciate the comfort that it provides and use this comfort to power us through whatever situation we may be facing. 

Addressing Emotional Eating and Other Strategies

Fortunately, there are strategies to disrupt the emotional eating cycle and to diversify your coping mechanisms toolbox:

  • Mindfulness: pay attention to physical hunger cues and practice mindful eating. This involves being fully present while eating, savoring each bite, and recognizing the body’s signals of fullness. Before, during, or after indulging in a comfort food, ask yourself ‘what do I need in this moment to help manage the situation?’ 
  • Identifying triggers: keep a journal to track emotional triggers and patterns. By identifying your feelings, you can face them head on, as opposed to avoiding them and distracting oneself with food. 
  • Seek support: reach out to friends, family, or professionals, such as therapists or registered dietitians, who can provide guidance and support in managing emotional eating if you feel it becomes excessive.  
  • Direct your energy to constructive outlets: explore alternative activities that can help manage emotions, such as engaging in physical exercise, practicing meditation, or pursuing hobbies.

Conclusion

 

Emotional eating is a complex issue that affects many individuals. By understanding the causes, effects, and strategies to address it, we can break free from the cycle and develop a healthier relationship with food. With self-awareness, support, and a wider variety of coping mechanisms, we can achieve a more balanced life. Remember, eating when emotional is natural and normal and can be done in a positive way in conjunction with other coping strategies.

Emotional eating in a positive way may look like…

  • You just found out you received a bad grade on a test at school. You choose to channel your frustration into the best batch of chocolate chip cookies you can bake and enjoy their gooey goodness hot out of the oven. 
  • You had a confronting conversation with your boss at work and have a thousand thoughts running through your head. You call up your friend to join you in dissecting the conversation over a bowl of steaming ramen soup. 
  • Your toddler threw one too many tantrums today and your energy tank is running on empty. You wait until the kids are asleep and dig into a cheesy pizza while watching your favorite movie from the comfort of your couch.

If you are struggling and need help, click here to book an appointment directly with one of our team members!

Written by

Olivia Harboun

Dietetics Student

References

  1. Shriver LH, Dollar JM, Calkins SD, Keane SP, Shanahan L, Wideman L. Emotional eating in adolescence: Effects of emotion regulation, weight status and negative body image. Nutrients [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2023 Jul 10];13(1):79. Available from: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/1/79
  2. Klatzkin RR, Nadel T, Wilkinson LL, Gaffney K, Files H, Gray ZJ, et al. Lifetime stressor exposure, eating expectancy, and acute social stress-related eating behavior: A pre-registered study of the emotional eating cycle. Appetite [Internet]. 2023;185:106494. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666323000478
  3. Chao AM, Jastreboff AM, White MA, Grilo CM, Sinha R. Stress, cortisol, and other appetite-related hormones: Prospective prediction of 6-month changes in food cravings and weight. Obesity (Silver Spring) [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2023 Jul 10];25(4):713–20. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oby.21790

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