Well, who among us hasn’t engaged in emotional eating at times. Sometimes we might spend an evening with friends enjoying good food and drinks. At other times, we might occasionally spend time alone, enjoying and snacking over the weekend on foods we have chosen for ourselves—depending on our mood, either savory or sweet. Or perhaps both. Sometimes the buffet at a celebration is so varied that we first eat with our eyes, taking a little of everything, and only later realize that the amount ended up being too large. Situations like these are often ones where we eat for reasons other than purely physiological hunger, but they do not yet form a problem when they occur as individual, occasional instances.
“Each person’s personal experience is also important when considering whether emotional eating is experienced as problematic.”
Rewarding oneself and taking a break from the pressures and challenges of everyday life
Many people associate emotional eating with being overweight, and although these can be related, in reality this is not necessarily the case. Emotional eating can occur in anyone regardless of their weight. Sometimes it is also difficult to recognize emotional eating in oneself, and occasionally someone realizes that they have eaten a package of this and that from the refrigerator. Typically, emotional eating appears as snacking or overeating. But what else is emotional eating?
Emotional eating can appear in different ways for different people. One person may say they reward themselves with food after performing very well, while another may use eating as a way to escape the pressures of everyday life or to shift their thoughts elsewhere when challenges arise. Someone else may experience feelings of emptiness, loneliness, or anxiety pin the evenings and try to fill those feelings through eating, which for some may end in eating until they feel uncomfortably full. Emotional eating can also appear as not eating at all.
“Constant snacking or overeating may trigger or further intensify unpleasant feelings such as guilt, disappointment, irritation, and general discomfort.”
A self-perpetuating cycle
Emotional eating is exactly what it sounds like: eating that is linked to emotions. As I mentioned at the beginning, the influence of emotions on eating is natural, but when does it become harmful to health? The harmfulness begins to rear its head at least when eating is no longer under your control. This may be because, for one reason or another, you have stopped listening to your body and your feelings, and you are seeking comfort in food. However, eating does not alleviate the underlying issues, and this behavior can also become even more stressful for you. Constant snacking or overeating may trigger or intensify unpleasant feelings such as guilt, disappointment, irritation, and discomfort. This easily leads to a vicious cycle that feeds on itself.
Each person’s personal experience is also important when considering whether emotional eating is problematic. If you want to reflect on your own situation, you could start by thinking about how you currently experience your own eating. Are you satisfied with your choices, or is there perhaps something in them that could use change? Or could food or eating possibly be one of your ways of regulating emotions?