The Science Behind Emotional Eating: Why We Do It and How to Stop -

Kaitlin Little

Do you ever eat to relieve stress or cope with difficult emotions? Turning to comfort food is common—whether it’s conscious or not.

When negative emotions arise, such as loneliness, sadness or boredom, many of us reach for the pantry. Filling up on high-sugar and high-fat food feels good at first. But afterward, we often feel even worse. Not only does the original issue remain, but now, there’s a sense of shame and guilt too.

The good news is that even though you may feel powerless over food today, there is a solution. By recognizing your triggers and practicing mindful eating, you can take steps to regain control over your cravings and conquer emotional eating once and for all.

What is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is using food to satisfy your emotional needs, instead of your physical hunger. You may fall prey to emotional eating more often than you think. It can be triggered by major life events, or more commonly, everyday hassles. You might find yourself digging into a bowl of ice cream when you’re feeling down, dropping by the drive-thru after a long and stressful day, or ordering take-out when you’re home alone, or feeling bored.

Occasionally treating yourself as part of a reward or celebration is ok. However, when food is your go-to coping mechanism, emotional eating can become an unhealthy cycle. Using food as a distraction or “numbing strategy” places a buffer between you and your emotions, but eventually you will need to deal with any underlying issues.

Emotional Hunger or Physical Hunger

Emotions can be profoundly effective at disguising themselves as hunger— making it difficult to tell the difference between an emotional tug for comfort and a genuine need for nourishment. However, there are signals that you can look for to help distinguish between the two:

Emotional hunger comes on abruptly: Cravings don’t creep up slowly, they strike in an instant and feel overwhelming and urgent. Whereas physical hunger arises gradually, over time and throughout the day.

Emotional hunger craves specific “comfort” foods: It’s only after one thing—palatable junk foods and sugary sweets that instantly pick you up. Genuine hunger, on the other hand, will be satisfied with just about anything, including healthy fruits and vegetables.

Emotional hunger is mindless and leads to binging: When we eat to fill an emotional void, it’s often an unconscious act. You may snack on peanuts or crackers without really noticing what you’re eating only because they’re right in front of you, and before you know it you’ve finished the entire package.

Emotional hunger doesn’t deliver the sensation of fullness: You’re on “auto-pilot” and keep eating, and eating, often until you’re uncomfortably full. In contrast, when you’re eating to satisfy genuine hunger, you know when you’ve had enough and you don’t need to feel crammed full.

Emotional eating is all in your head: Physical hunger is a response to physiological cues (such as a rumbling stomach, low energy, or light-headedness) while emotional hunger is a psychological need. You begin thinking about the specific flavors and textures, and can‘t get the thought out of your head.

Emotional hunger often leads to shame, regret or guilt. Eating to subdue a genuinely grumbling belly is rarely associated with negative emotions. However, if you feel ashamed or guilty after eating, it’s likely because you know you’ve eaten for the wrong reasons.

Common Reasons for Emotional Eating & Solutions

Contrary to what many people believe, emotional eating is not due to a simple lack of self-control or discipline. It comes down to several psychological and physiological factors. Below you’ll find five of the most common reasons for emotional eating and how to solve them:

Lack of Awareness

In many instances, people are unaware of their eating habits. Do you ever continue to pick at your meal after you’ve finished, slowly pecking away at the remaining portion until you’ve polished off what you intended to leave behind? Or absent-mindedly put crackers or crisps in your mouth while watching TV and then wonder, “where did they all go?!” When we eat to satisfy our emotions, we often go on autopilot—meaning we don’t necessarily realize what we are doing. It’s what psychologists call “mindless eating,” and it can be detrimental to maintaining a healthy diet.

Solution: one way to develop greater awareness of your eating habits is to practice mindful eating. Mindful eating means remaining mentally present during the planning, preparation and consumption of your meal. Instead of eating at your desk, or in front of the TV, make a conscious effort to leave your workspace and sit down at a table. Allow time to chew your food slowly and appreciate each bite using all your senses. Take notice of your hunger and satiety levels, and acknowledge your responses to the presentation as well as the flavors, aromas and textures of your food.

Mindful eating can be easier said than done. Sometimes we barely have time to finish our meal, let alone tediously focus on every bite. But a large part of mindful eating is committing to the practice. As mindful eating becomes more natural, your awareness of physical hunger and satiety cues will improve. Eventually, your measured thoughts will guide your decisions about food, not your emotions. One study found that those who practiced mindful eating significantly reduced binge eating, stress levels, and weight. [1]

Stress

Stress eating is a subset of emotional eating with an active physiological component. Stress has a dramatic impact on our appetite through hormones. In the short-term, stress hormones suppress hunger. The brain sends signals to the adrenal gland to unleash epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). Epinephrine helps initiate the body’s fight-or-flight response, which temporarily shuts down your appetite.

However, when stress persists, it’s an entirely different story. Chronic stress prompts the adrenal gland to pump out another hormone called cortisol. A rise in cortisol not only ramps up your appetite but also increases the motivation to eat sugary, fatty foods. When stress doesn’t go away, cortisol levels remain elevated, leading to persistent feelings of hunger. You might tell yourself, “It doesn’t matter what I eat anyway” or “I just don’t care what I eat.”

Solution: If you ever feel the urge to eat during the throes of a stressful situation, remember that there are many other ways to alleviate your hunger. You can try distracting yourself with just about any healthy behavior—like going for a walk, getting some fresh air, or calling a friend. If you suffer from low levels of chronic stress, committing to daily meditation or practicing yoga regularly are two effective long-term strategies.

In one clinical trial, daily meditation for nine weeks was shown to significantly improve eating patterns, as well as reduce abdominal fat and anxiety levels in overweight, chronic “stress eaters.” [2] In another study, an eight-week Bikram Yoga intervention was shown to decrease emotional eating and cortisol levels among women (aged 25-46). [3]

Boredom

When we feel bored or tired, we tend to eat needlessly for pleasure as food stimulates our senses and provides a quick burst of energy. Chocolate is a classic boredom buster—and there’s plenty of science to explain why. According to brain imaging research, bingeing on high-sugar foods can activate reward centers within the brain. [4] Scientists have shown that sugar, much like cocaine and heroin, stimulates the hypothalamus to release of dopamine, a chemical messenger that promotes pleasure and desire. [5] Palatable foods can also trigger the release of endorphins from our pituitary gland. Endorphins are our body’s natural painkillers. Just like opioids, these hormones activate opiate receptors, calming and soothing the body. [6]

Solution: Just like drugs and alcohol, emotional eating is a band-aid for boredom, rather than a cure. A healthier solution is learning to recognize when you’re eating out of boredom, instead of real hunger. Next time you crack open a bag of chips, take notice of how you are feeling both physically and emotionally. Ask yourself, “Am I actually hungry, or am I just looking for something to do?” Next, find an alternative way to beat boredom. Instead of looking forward to a tub of ice cream at the end of the day, treat yourself to a good book, take guitar lessons, or start a new hobby, like scrapbooking.

Body Shame

Body shame is one of the biggest reasons behind emotional eating. In a recent study, 250 women reported their experiences with emotional eating, including their most common triggers. Responses ranged from stress and anger to pleasure and reward. However, in all cases, body shame played the largest role in emotional eating. [7] It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that body shame also predicts caloric intake and weight gain. [8] Criticizing your appearance and comparing your body to others is a destructive behavior that drives the cycle of dieting and binge eating.

The good news? Body shame is a learned behavior, which means it can also be unlearned. No one was born looking in the mirror, judging their body and pulling their appearance to shreds. Over time, society and media influences have conditioned us to believe that our appearance—from the way we dress to the dress size we wear—somehow defines our success as a person. From Barbie to Cinderella and constant pictures of perfection on social media, we’ve been taught to strive for an unrealistic airbrushed depiction of beauty that is simply unattainable.

Solution: All too often, people say I’ll stop shaming my body once I reach my goal weight. But to stop emotional eating, you need to learn to accept your body first. Learning to accept your body unconditionally is a challenging process, but it’s a goal we can all work towards by taking baby steps. If you’re dealing with persistent body-image issues, it’s worth speaking with a professional, who can help you identify and overcome any underlying issues.

Food Restriction & Deprivation

Whether you’re restricting your calories or skipping meals, allowing yourself to get too hungry is the fastest way to bring about a binge. [9] When you’re hungry, your body and brain can’t perform at their best. We all know how difficult the most simple of tasks can be when we’re ravenous. That’s why the term “hangry” was invented, right? But, did you know that when hunger sets in, the cells lining your stomach also release loads of ghrelin a hunger-hormone that sends strong signals to your brain to find food and chow it down? This combination of fatigue and famish makes fighting off cravings all the more difficult.

Similarly, you’re dancing on the dangerous line if you start depriving yourself of certain foods or food groups. When people place restrictions on particular foods or label foods as “good” or “bad,” it’s common to wind up binging on the exact foods you were trying to avoid in the first place. Not only does fixating feed the binge cycle, but it also feeds the shame cycle.

Solution: Ditch the diet and throw out the rules! Instead, aim to eat several small meals throughout the day. I know you may not have time, but don’t tempt fate by poking the “hangry” bear. And cut yourself some slack. While some degree of discipline is necessary, it’s impossible to eat perfectly all the time. Putting too much pressure on yourself will only lead to one thing—falling entirely off the wagon the one time you slip up. Enjoy your favorite foods in moderation and try to make food choices based on your hunger cues and nutritional value.

References

[/restrict]