2009 Features

Reacquaint Yourself with Real Hunger

Stop the Emotional Eating

Stress, frustration, sadness, or hunger – why do you eat? If your breakfast consists of chocolate and coffee, if you reach for the chips an hour after lunch, if you need that midnight scone to sleep, you might be an emotional eater.

Emotional eating is described as eating for comfort rather than nourishment or physical hunger. Many people soothe their negative emotions and satisfy their feelings through their favourite foods. Over time, the habit of reaching for food as a pacifier for feelings of anxiety, boredom, loneliness, and the like, can cause an emotional eater to confuse negative feelings with the feeling of being hungry. It becomes a learned response: feelings – instead of hunger – become the cue to eat.

And, the cue probably doesn't command an apple. Emotional eaters tend to look towards their favourite foods to satisfy the feelings behind the craving. These comfort foods are often sweet, salty, high-calorie, high-fat, and sometimes, plenty of it.

Eventually, this form of comfort comes with a heavy price tag: guilt and extra weight. Emotional eaters often feel guilty for "lacking the self control" to avoid eating for comfort. Moreover, the extra weight can also add to feelings of unhappiness. The result is a vicious cycle: negative feelings lead to emotional eating, which leads to weight gain, which contributes to negative feelings – and
the desire to eat.

But the cycle can be broken. A key factor in breaking the pattern of emotional eating is to recognize emotional eating for what it is and physical hunger for what it feels like. Physical hunger is characterized by the same physical cues that you have experienced before. It occurs gradually and sometimes involves a growling stomach. When you are truly hungry, you can usually be satisfied with healthy foods and stop eating when your stomach feels full. On the other hand, emotional eating can come on suddenly and typically demands foods that you would look forward to eating. Too, emotional eating doesn't necessarily register a full stomach as a cue to stop. This can often lead to overeating, feelings of guilt, and a continuum of the vicious cycle.

A good way to reacquaint yourself with physical hunger is by keeping an eating journal. Every day for one month, keep track of everything you eat and when you eat it. Each time you put something in your mouth, write down any accompanying feelings, such as anger, anxiety, or loneliness, then rate how hungry you are on a scale of one to 10. An eating journal can help you identify patterns that connect your eating behaviours to specific feelings and triggers.

Other methods to help you stop emotional eating involves separating food from the notion of comfort. If you are not physically hungry but are feeling the urge to eat, identify any negative feelings you are having and then look elsewhere for comfort. Take a walk, get a glass of water, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, or ask for some social support from a family member, friend, or co-worker.

Also, make it difficult for yourself to reach for a favourite comfort food. Bring your lunch to work and keep a supply of healthy snacks available to stave off physical hunger. It's important to give yourself enough healthy nourishment, because if you do become physically hungry and deny yourself adequate sustenance, it's easier to give in to emotional eating later in the day.

By recognizing emotional eating for what it is and dealing with your feelings in a way that won't contribute to guilt and further unhappiness, you not only have already changed your lifestyle, you can better manage your weight. But, if you do give in to emotional eating, forgive yourself and keep your progress moving forward by continuing to make healthy choices.

- Barbara Petryk