Oh my gosh, this picture reminds me of me so many times in the past!
But have you ever stopped to consider WHY you eat?
You might think you only eat because you’re hungry, but it turns out most of us reach for food in response to the way we feel.
I can so relate to that and especially for a LONG period of time after my mum passed. I didn’t even realize for a while that I was eating for comfort. this is just one of the reasons you can find yourself eating from emotions.
If you’ve ever eaten because you’re stressed out, lonely or bored, or treated yourself for a job well done – you’ve eaten based on your emotions.
Or maybe you spend your day rushing around trying to get everything accomplished on your to-do list and feel like you’re always hungry.
While busy schedules often keep people from taking the time to savor healthy, balanced meals, a never-ending to-do list can also create a lot of stress that makes you hungry and craving a lot of less-than-healthy snacks. Beat the urge to munch on junk with a recipe (below) for what seems to be an indulgent snack. It only feels like an indulgent snack, but with just enough protein, healthy fat, and fiber to keep you fuller longer.
Sound familiar?
It’s called emotional eating, and in a nutshell, it is eating for any other reason besides actual physical hunger, fuel, or nourishment.
3 Trademarks of Emotional Eating
● Binging – usually on high-sugar and carbohydrate-rich comfort foods (i.e. junk food). How many people do you know who reach for avocado and apples when they’re upset?
● Mindlessly eating – you’re not aware of what or how much you’re eating or how those foods are making your body feel
● Eating to numb, soothe, please, relax, or reward yourself, i.e. “I had a bad day and deserve it” kind of thinking. Eating during these times provides temporary relief, but often leaves you feeling worse than where you started!
When my mum passed away, as I said, I realized later I had turned to food for comfort. Basically, I was stuffing down the feelings that hurt and tried to create some comfort for myself so I didn’t feel so sad, alone, and yes – emotional. I started eating a type of English candy that I could actually get in the local grocery store here in the U.S. It was one of the types of candy my mum and I would sit and eat in the evenings watching television together when I would go over to visit her. I made me feel close to her again and gave me the ability to appreciate something we had done together. Now that wouldn’t even have been the bad part. The bad part was that I totally binged on this candy (just as in #1 above) and I’m embarrassed to say, not just with a few sweets (as we call them back home) but with the whole bag full. I would start off telling myself it would only be a few, but before I knew it the entire bag was demolished. And let me tell you, this didn’t just go on for a short period of time, it was a LONG period of time.
The trouble with emotional eating is it overrides your body’s natural hunger cycle and can promote things like:
– weight gain
– an increase in your risk for inflammation and chronic disease
– create an unhealthy relationship between you and food
– lead to more dangerous types of disordered eating
What Triggers Emotional Eating?
Even though it’s called “emotional eating” because people often reach for food to cope with their feelings, there are a lot of other non-hunger reasons that can prompt you to eat.
Some common non-hunger reasons include:
● Uncomfortable emotions, like anger, guilt, fear, and sadness
● Stress
● Boredom
● Need to feel pleasure and/or comfort
I guess I have experienced all of those when it comes to the way I eat. It is not a healthy solution and one that I can tell you tI handle a lot better these days. Oh, it’s not that I don’t want to and don’t even do it for a period of time, but with the recognition of what I am doing, it is easier to let go and move past it.
In my next blog, I am going to share with you, six tips to help you get a handle on emotional eating…for good! So stay tuned.
If you’re tired of living on a hamster wheel of emotional eating, weight gain, and binging, I would love to chat with you. Schedule a free breakthrough clarity call with me so that you can gain some insight into your eating habits. Click the picture below.
