Emotional Eating: Feeding Your Feelings

[Bonita]

“I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” -Jimmy Dean
Life would be so much easier if we all could learn to adjust our sails and reach our destination. As with anything people deal with life’s little ups and downs in different ways. For many that feel they have no control over things that are happening in their lives or do not know how to deal with events in their lives resort to eating. Are you an emotional eater?


Emotional Eating: Feeding Your Feelings

Eating to feed a feeling, and not a growling stomach, is emotional eating.

When you're happy, your food of choice could be steak or pizza, when you're sad it could be ice cream or cookies, and when you're bored it could be potato chips. Food does more than fill our stomachs -- it also satisfies feelings, and when you quench those feelings with comfort food when your stomach isn't growling, that's emotional eating and of late has been called mad eating

"Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger," says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. "Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating."

What are the telltale signs of emotional eating, what foods are the most likely culprits when it comes to emotional eating, and how it can be overcome?

How to Tell the Difference
There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger:
1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.
2. When you are eating to fill a void that isn't related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you're open to options.
3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.
4. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.
5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.

In the next article we will cover what are some comfort foods and what is overfeeding emotions along with managing emotional eating.

Pluswellness