Not all food is meant to satisfy our physical hunger. Many people turn to food to comfort themselves, relieve stress, or reward themselves. We tend to reach out for unhealthy junk food and sweets when we feel like it. If you feel down, you might reach for an ice cream pint, order a pizza when you are lonely or stop by the drive-thru after a long day at work.
Emotional eating refers to using food to feel better, not just for your stomach. Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn’t fix emotional problems. It can make you feel worse. You feel guilt for overeating and the emotional issue that caused it will resurface.
The emotional eating cycle
Sometimes, food can be used to pick me up, reward me, or celebrate. If eating becomes your primary emotional coping mechanism, when your first instinct is to reach for the fridge whenever you feel stressed, upset, lonely, tired, or bored, then this can lead to an unhealthy cycle in which the actual problem or feeling is not addressed.
Emotional hunger cannot be satisfied with food. While eating may seem reasonable at the time, the emotions that triggered it are still present. You often feel worse because you ate more calories than before. You feel guilty for not being more determined, and you beat yourself up about it.
You stop learning healthy ways to manage your emotions and find it harder to control your weight. This makes you feel even more powerless over your feelings and food. It is possible to make positive changes, no matter how vulnerable or ineffective you think about food and surfaces. There are healthier ways to manage your emotions, overcome triggers, conquer cravings and stop emotional eating.
What is the difference between physical and emotional hunger?
To break the cycle of emotional eating, it is essential to understand how to tell the difference between physical and emotional hunger. This can be more difficult than you think, especially if your primary motivation is to eat.
It’s easy for people to confuse emotional hunger with physical hunger. There are signs you can use to distinguish between emotional and physical needs.
