Emotional/Comfort Eating

Does stress, anger, or sadness drive you to eat?Sometimes the strongest cravings for food happen when you're at your weakest point emotionally.  Do you turn to food for comfort, or when you're bored? Many people do. If you often eat for emotional reasons instead of because you're physically hungry, that can be a problem.  
You may turn to food for comfort — consciously or unconsciously — when you're facing a difficult problem, stress or just looking to keep yourself occupied.

If you're on a weight-loss mission, emotional eating can sabotage your efforts. Emotional eating often leads to eating too much, especially too much of high-calorie, sweet, fatty foods. Obeying the urge to eat more than you need is a sure-fire way to gain weight. It’s an even bigger problem if you already have health conditions like diabetes, obesity, or high blood pressure.


You might not even realize you're doing it. One of the biggest clues, "eating until you are uncomfortable and stuffed is a sure sign something is going on", psychologist Leslie Becker-Phelps, PhD, says. Another clue: you're gaining weight and you don't know why. Don’t assume that it’s just that you’re getting older or slacking on the treadmill. Consider how you're doing emotionally, and whether that might be affecting your eating.

Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness. Both major life events and the hassles of daily life can trigger negative emotions that lead to emotional eating and disrupt your weight-loss efforts. These triggers may include:

• Unemployment
• Financial pressure
• Health problems
• Relationship conflicts
• Work stress
• Fatigue

Although some people actually eat less in the face of strong emotions, if you're in emotional distress you may turn to impulsive or binge eating — you may rapidly eat whatever's convenient, without even enjoying it. In fact, your emotions may become so tied to your eating habits that you automatically reach for a treat whenever you're angry or stressed without stopping to think about what you're doing.

Food also serves as a distraction. If you're worried about an upcoming event or stewing over a conflict, for instance, you may focus on eating comfort food instead of dealing with the painful situation.

Whatever emotions drive you to over-eat, the end result is often the same. The emotions return, and you may also now bear the additional burden of guilt about setting back your weight-loss goal. This can also lead to an unhealthy cycle — your emotions trigger you to over-eat, you beat yourself up for getting off your weight-loss track, you feel bad, and you over-eat again.

You can get back in control of emotional eating. The surprising part is, it's not really about food at all. But the good news is that if you're prone to emotional eating, you can take steps to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track with your weight-loss goals.

Overcoming emotional eating

• “Self-compassion is the first step toward learning to comfort yourself in other ways." - Leslie Becker Phelps, PhD. Be Kind to Yourself. Once you’ve realized this is happening, the first thing you should do is give yourself a break. Greater self-compassion is the first step toward learning to comfort yourself in other ways. Beating yourself up over it only adds to your stress, which can lead to more emotional eating.

• Tame your stress. If stress contributes to your emotional eating, try a stress management technique, such as yoga, meditation or relaxation. Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings you have before you eat. The more aware you are of your inner experiences, the more you can choose how to cope with them.
• Have a hunger reality check. Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate just a few hours ago and don't have a rumbling stomach, you're probably not really hungry. Give the craving a little time to pass. It helps to add a delay between the urge to eat and actually eating. That gives you time to check in with how you're feeling and why you want to eat. When you get the urge to eat a cookie out of sadness or boredom, remember that you have the option to wait it out. Saying to yourself ‘I’ll have it later’ gives the impulse time to pass. Even if it doesn’t, successfully delaying the snack helps you feel more in control.

• Keep a food diary. Write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you're feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you may see patterns emerge that reveal the connection between mood and food.
• Get support. You're more likely to give in to emotional eating if you lack a good support network. Lean on family and friends or consider joining a support group. The solution to emotional eating is less about eating than it is about emotions. You can start with a simple step. Make a list of what is stressing you, and make a plan to take control of the situation. If you can change the situation, go for it. If the problem is out of your control, you can manage the way you think about it. If you can notice your stress in the moment, you can choose how you respond, rather than reacting the way you have in the past. Consider talking with a counselor so you can better understand what's going on with you and the best ways to handle it. Even a few sessions may help. Wear a rubber band around your wrist, and snap it whenever you reach for the jelly beans. The snap is your cue to be mindful about what's about to happen.

• Fight boredom. Instead of snacking when you're not truly hungry, distract yourself. Take a walk, watch a movie, play with your pet, listen to music, read, surf the Internet or call a friend. When you’re tempted to snack for emotional reasons, try moving instead. Just walk in place for 10 minutes. Even a quick burst of activity refreshes you, and moving is a proven stress-buster. You've replaced the urge to eat with something else.
• Take away temptation. Don't keep supplies of comfort foods in your home if they're hard for you to resist. And if you feel angry or blue, postpone your trip to the grocery store until you're sure that you have your emotions in check.
• Don't deprive yourself. When you're trying to achieve a weight-loss goal, you may limit your calories too much, eat the same foods frequently and banish the treats you enjoy. This may just serve to increase your food cravings, especially in response to emotions. Let yourself enjoy an occasional treat and get plenty of variety to help curb cravings.
• Snack healthy. If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie snack, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with low-fat dip or unbuttered popcorn. Or try low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving.

• Learn from setbacks. If you have an episode of emotional eating, forgive yourself and start fresh the next day. Try to learn from the experience and make a plan for how you can prevent it in the future. Focus on the positive changes you're making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that'll lead to better health.
• Keep it real. The truth is not all emotional eating is unhealthy. It’s normal and natural occasionally to eat to celebrate with friends or because you’re feeling blue. It only becomes a problem when it is used frequently and even in the face of unhealthy consequences, such as medical issues.

When to seek professional help
If you've tried self-help options but you still can't get control of your emotional eating, consider therapy with a professional mental health provider. Therapy can help you understand the motivations behind your emotional eating and help you learn new coping skills. Therapy can also help you discover whether you may have an eating disorder, which is sometimes connected to emotional eating.

Credits: Mayo Clinic, WebMd, Google images