Using food to deal with your feelings? Learn more about emotional eating

Eat less, work out more. Until very recently, this formula was considered the only path to control our hunger and weight. In the past, the idea that our body works mathematically was a consensus. The diet culture taught us that we'd have problems with the scale if we eat more than we burn. So, we better shut our mouths, right? 

Fortunately, times have changed, and thanks to science, we already know that eating habits go way beyond that. 

A person's weight and needs regarding what, when, and how much they eat are very specific. And it depends on a million factors, including genetics, gender, financial conditions, sleep quality, and so on. 

One of the most important is emotional status. The Covid-19 crisis put us in a very stressful place, and it affected the way that we eat. Some studies show that many people had used food to smooth out negative feelings during the pandemic. 

Specialists describe hunger that is not related to physical needs, but to feelings, as "emotional eating."

You open the fridge and think: "I need to eat something. But I don't even know what and why." You probably already have experienced something like that at some point in your life. Everybody does.

People use food to comfort themselves against absolutely everything - anger, sadness, loneliness, boredom, anxiety, fear. 

Food could be a good friend - the one who never abandons you. 

Food, love, and comfort

Remember in how many movies you see the classic scene where the girl is thrown on the couch eating a giant ice cream bowl after her boyfriend broke up with her? 

Although it seems a misogynist representation of women - as if we are always left behind by men - there is some truth to this. Some studies show that women are more likely to eat "unhealthy" (*) foods when facing stress than men. 

And why ice cream and not a vast and fresh lettuce salad? Well, there are some biological explanations for why we prefer sugary, salty, and fatty foods when we are upset. One of them, it's because this kind of food hits our reward system and increases the production of dopamine hormones, which gives us an immediate feeling of pleasure. 

Another answer is that when we are under stress, our brain requires more energy. The best and quickest way to get this is eating simple carbs, as the brain researcher and diabetologist Achim Peters explains in this article on Scientific American. 

But it's also essential to consider the social role that food has occupied in our lives. We have been rewarded with food since birth. Baby cries, and mom gives them milk. Children show good behavior so that they can have dessert. Birthday party? Food. Job promotion? Food. Open house? More food. 

Food is good. And our brains know that. Then, nothing is more natural than seeking a good piece of pizza or our favorite chocolate when we feel down. 

From innocent episodes to patterns

The problem of emotional eating starts when it becomes a pattern. Eating comfort food in every stressful situation could change our food routine, leading to obesity and chronic diseases. 

Emotionally speaking, it's also bad because overeating can bring guilt, sadness, and self-depreciation. Besides, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand the proper hunger signals. 

Therefore, if you face this kind of problem, I have a question for you: can you tell when you are physically hungry and when you are just trying to fill the emotional gaps with food? 

If you are lost, the first important thing to do is to figure out the difference between emotional and physical hunger. 

• Physical hunger shows symptoms like headache, dizziness, irritation, stomach pain, weakness, trembling. Also, when your body is asking for energy to keep working, you are up to eating any food. 

• Emotional hunger, on the other hand, it's more like: "I deserve to eat something delicious because I had an awful day." So, probably you are more prone to throw yourself on candies, snacks, or fast food - overall, your brain is asking: the quicker, the better! 

Now, suppose you identified that what you are feeling is emotional emptiness. In that case, you can try to go deeper to understand the reasons behind these cravings.

In this article, Evelyn Tribole, a renowned dietician and co-founder of the Intuitive Eating movement, spread some reflection questions to understand feelings better. 

There are plenty of ways to cope with emotional eating. One idea is food diaries, which can help you better understand the triggers that lead you to eat more than usual.

Another one is mindful eating, an excellent tool to keep you focused and appreciate meal times more consciously. 

Those are good alternatives, according to specialists. Still, most of them reinforce the importance of self-acknowledgement to ending the emotional eating cycle.

So, if you are eating your feelings regularly, consider seeing a therapist. Ice cream is good, but it feels even tastier when you understand what is going on inside your mind. 

(*) I use the word "unhealthy" between quotes because this concept of "bad" and "good" food is out of date. There is a broader notion nowadays between nutritionists who study eating behavior that putting food in these categories brings more doubts and guilt. Every food is good inside a moderate and balanced diet.