Emotional eaters understand the struggle behind feeling stressed, turning to food for comfort, and then punishing themselves for consuming too many empty calories. It is a vicious cycle and many feel that they do not know how to control it.
Stress eating is a common condition among people of all ages and is done to alleviate emotional needs and problems rather than actual hunger. Those who identify themselves as emotional eaters may view food as a comforting type of friend they can turn to when life gets too overwhelming.
While eating, they feel safe and at ease, but the underlying problems are still there. Since so much of this eating is driven by emotions, you may find it difficult to determine what exactly sent you to the fridge or pantry in the first place.
A food diary
Keeping a food journal is one way to help you better understand your behaviors and the emotional triggers that trigger them. By keeping a food diary, you can identify important connections between when you eat, how much you eat, and why you eat when you are not physically hungry.
A food diary is simply a diary that is used strictly to keep track of what you eat, when you eat, and how much you have eaten. Those who keep such a diary include details such as:
- Lunch hours
- Serving sizes
- Feelings before, during and after eating.
- Nutritional value of food
- Thoughts surrounding the process
When kept for an extended period of time and then studied, you may be able to find certain patterns and connections around your eating habits.
For example, an emotional eater may find that immediately after a fight with a loved one, they eat. They may find that before the meal their emotions intensified, and afterwards they felt reassured and reassured. By simply keeping track of these events, what is really fueling your eating habits can suddenly become clear.
How do you know if you are an emotional eater?
We’ve all had those days where we eat when we’re bored, go out for ice cream after a bad breakup, or even visit the pizza place to celebrate a win, but does that make you an emotional eater?
The truth is that emotional eating goes much deeper than a snack or outing after a significant event. It is often continuous and is accompanied by a strong influx or drop of emotions.
The following questions can help you determine if your eating patterns are normal or driven by emotional ups and downs:
- You eat when you feel stressed
- Eat despite not being hungry or even feeling full
- You see food as a reward
- You eat until you stay no matter what happens
- Eat to feel calm and comfortable (usually when you feel sad, angry, anxious, bored, or agitated)
- You feel like you have no power over your food and how much you eat
- You immediately feel safe when you eat
If most of these indicators apply to you, it is very likely that you are an emotional eater. Keeping a food journal can help you outline your emotional and physical habits when it comes to stress and stress management in plain language.
When the patterns or connections become clear, you can move forward by changing some of your coping skills to stop eating when you are not initially hungry.
Emotional eaters do not have to suffer from the physical problems that this condition can bring. Instead, they can get back on track through focused mindfulness and proactive steps like therapy, exercise, and other healthy coping practices.