Do you eat when you are bored, upset, happy, or frustrated? Many do and it leads to overeating and weight gain. Emotional eating can devastate a diet and lead to more intense feelings of guilt and frustration. Simply put, it is unhealthy to eat your way through emotions.
“Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger,” says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. “Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating.”
Are you an emotional eater? How often do you find yourself with an intense and onset craving for ice cream or potato chips? I know many who say they have not felt a hunger sensation in years because they eat out of emotion and not a physical need. Can you tell the difference between eating out of emotion and hunger?
According to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site the following are signs of eating out of emotion:
1. Emotional hunger is sudden while physical hunger is gradual.
2. Emotional eating causes specific cravings such as ice cream or pizza. If you feel that only that craving will satisfy your need than you know your emotions are controlling your hunger. Physical hunger will settle for a variety of food options.
3. If you feel the need to be satisfied instantly with a specific food then your emotions are triggering a hunger response. Physical hunger can wait until a proper time.
4. Emotional eating will cause you to eat beyond hunger or the feeling of being full. Most are likely to stop eating once a physical hunger is satisfied.
5. Eating out of a physical need does not leave residual feelings of guilt while emotional eating often leaves a person in a state of increased guilt or frustration.
If you recognize the signs of emotional eating, you can learn to replace the food with something else. Resist the urge to satisfy your emotional needs with food and try a more healthy alternative like writing inn a journal, talking to a friend, or physical activity.
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