Emotional and stress eating may seem like a laughable problem when you see on chick flicks, but it’s a more serious threat to your mental and physical health. Your craving for comfort food takes place when you’re at your weakest point emotionally. Seen as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions like stress, anger, fear, and loneliness – eating your emotions away can lead to impulsive or binge eating.
While stress eating can give you some relief for a short period of time, remember that it does not fix your emotional problems at all. In fact, it’ll only make you feel worse.
The key to understanding emotional eating is to identify if you are an emotional eater. A lot of women do not think they are emotional eaters, but you’ll be surprised to know that we’re in the lead when using food as an emotional coping mechanism.
To find out if you’re an emotional or stress eater, answer these questions.
Do you often use food as a reward?
Do you eat just enough to curb the hunger pangs, or do you eat until your stuffed?
Do you ever feel that food is like a friend?
Do you tend to eat more when you’re feeling alone or stressed?
Do you eat even when you’re not hungry or full? [¹]
If you find yourself answering yes to at least three of the questions above, you may have a problem with emotional eating.
One of the many triggers of emotional eating is stress. The reason is that when you’re stressed, your end up releasing high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers your cravings for salty, sweet and rich foods – foods that give you a surge of pleasure and temporary positivity. Some people have feelings of emptiness where they eat simply to distract you from feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction in life. Childhood habits also play a role – if you were often rewarded with food for good behavior, these childhood eating habits carry over into your adult life. [²]
Now that you can identify and understand the causes of emotional and stress eating, here are a few ways to gain control over it.
1. When you’re depressed and alone and about ravish a pint of ice cream, occupy yourself with the company of others. Call your best friend over the phone, or play with your dog.
2. Whenever you’re feeling anxious or sombre about life, turn it around by getting active. Exercise is a fantastic way to release positive hormones in your body, so put on a good dance track and start dancing!
3. Healthy lifestyle habits can drastically improve your problems with stress and emotional eating. Always make sure you get 8 hours of sleep every night. When your body is rested, it’ll reduce for cravings and in the end, giving you the emotional strength to control and reduce your food cravings.
4. Don’t leave your loved ones out of your life. Close relationships and social activities are important to enhance your life and can protect you from the negative effects of stress.
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