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Emotional Eating and Eating Disorders

Although emotional eating does not classify as a type of eating disorder, some physicians believe it is similar to many types of eating disorders because it represents an unhealthy relationship with food. Emotional eating refers to the act of using food to manage one's mood. Many of us eat out of emotion, not hunger, but some people are more vulnerable to emotional eating than others. If you are wondering if you might be an emotional eater, ask yourself these questions. Do you find yourself consistently eating when you're not truly hungry? Do you resort to "comfort food" when you are feeling sad, lonely, stressed out, or just bored? Do you think of food as a distraction or a way to escape your current problems? Do you have trouble differentiating between true hungers and just snacking? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have experienced emotional eating in the past. Other symptoms of emotional eaters are that they tend to obsess about the food they eat. They may rely on food to soothe themselves at stressful times, or use food as a reward. For most emotional eaters, food acts as their primary means of distraction or entertainment, taking on a significant role in their life.

If you think you may be an emotional eater, what can you do to cultivate a healthy relationship to food? First, understand that food is an important part of our lives, and it is not unhealthy to have a strong passion, interest, or desire to eat food. Food is a part of the most important moments of our lives: weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other important celebrations all use food as an important part of the celebration. This is normal and healthy. However, food should not be used as a tool to soothe hurt feelings or compensate for something that is missing from our emotional lives.

Part of helping to stop the urge of emotional eating is learning to become a more mindful eater. Have you ever plowed through a bag of chips, yet still felt unsatisfied afterwards? How about gulping down a can of soda with barely getting a taste of it? Many emotional eaters eat without thought or consideration of what they are eating. As an emotional eater, you must learn new eating habits and skills to help you get past your emotional eating tendencies. One of these tools is keeping a food journal. Keeping a food journal is an easy way to become more mindful of what you eat and why. Simply buy a small notebook where you can write down everything you eat in the course of one day. Keep it somewhere handy where you will see it. On the kitchen counter, or posted on the refrigerator are both good locations. Simply write down everything you eat. If you can, write down the time and how you felt at the moment. This can help you locate any emotional eating patterns that you may have never noticed before. For instance, maybe you tend to snack after getting home from work, as a way to relieve stress. Keeping a food journal is an excellent way to locate such emotional eating patterns. Once you have charted these patterns, come up with strategies to keep you from emotional eating. Maybe you can take a walk right after work, or prepare a healthy snack that is right at your disposal.

When dieting, one attempts to lose some amount of weight with a positive outlook. If an individual focuses on their weight in a negative manner, you should be suspect. Dieting should be positive, with an individual looking not to attain perfection, but to shed a few pounds. Those who experience eating disorders are often looking for acceptance by the world, and this should be noticeable if an eating disorder is present. If the person is overly critical of themselves, holding themselves to a perfectionist’s standard, the conditions are ripe for an eating disorder. They may continue to state that they are fat even when it is clear that they are below a normal, healthy body weight. Eating disorders often are accompanied by a case of depression, so be sure to note the person’s personality.

>> Factors that May Contribute to Eating Disorders >>