What is emotional eating?

Emotional eating is a form of eating that is dependent on the hunger felt even though we are physiologically full, and often occurs with an irresistible desire for a particular food. There is a strong emotional hunger behind our emotional eating behavior, and the stresses caused by our emotions lie behind it.

 On the basis of emotional hunger, feelings of loneliness, anger, aimlessness, anxiety, failure, guilt, fear and inadequacy are prioritized. In addition, the stress of daily life can also be effective.

Why do we feel the need to eat when we experience negative emotions?

The thought of "eating makes you relax" provides physical and emotional relief from the moment we are born, just like we are satiated in our mother's lap. And it continues for life. If, as children, we were soothed by food every time we whine, idle, or cause problems, our bond of emotional relief is strengthened by this meal. If the methods of coping with emotions are not known, eating seems to be the best solution, as sugar and carbohydrates increase the release of hormones that provide positive emotions in the brain.

What are the differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger?

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly, immediately creating a feeling of eating something. You will feel the physical hunger gradually, first your stomach will start to make noises and you can wait for this hunger. Emotional hunger is more related to certain foods (chips, chocolate, pizza), while any choice for your physical hunger will feel positive to you. When there is emotional hunger, even if your stomach is full, your desire to eat continues. In physical hunger, the hunger disappears as soon as your stomach is full. After emotional hunger; You feel feelings of sadness, guilt, powerlessness, and shame. When you are physically hungry, you do not feel bad for eating.

How should I recognize my emotional hunger behavior?

Having too much appetite and being insatiable brings with it the behavior of eating until you explode. Our aim is to fill the void, but this void is not in the stomach. Emotional hunger may be present if we often prefer to eat alone and experience feelings of guilt and punishment after the eating behavior.

Have you ever noticed that you eat for your feelings, not your stomach?

According to a study, people were asked to keep a special diary by asking how they felt when they ate, and according to these results, it was seen that they preferred only certain types of food in certain emotional states. In this case, it can be said that the factor that determines our eating behavior is our emotional state.

How Can We Cope With Emotional Hunger?

Watch your tendencies just like a detective. The best way to change a habit is awareness. Identify what you want to eat in which emotional state. Take control of your emotions. It will be easier to control your emotions if you know which emotional state is pushing you to eat which food. Break the link between emotional state and the food consumed by not consuming the food. While eating a large pizza every time you are unhappy, weaken this bond by not eating pizza in your next unhappiness.

Choose healthy alternatives and exercise will not only help you lose weight but also help regulate your negative emotions. In an emotional hunger crisis, first assess whether you are really hungry and how hungry you are. You can rate your hunger level on a scale of 1-10, with 10 indicating that you are incredibly hungry. Then determine when you last ate.

If it's longer than 3-4 hours, it could be physical starvation. In the current crisis, the most important thing is to understand the emotion behind emotional hunger. “It's only been half an hour since I've eaten and I'm not supposed to be hungry; so what do i need? What am I feeling?” Asking can help us understand ourselves and notice our emotions.

If we are angry, it will be much better to understand what we are angry about, and if we are bored, to think about what we want to do. Trying to lose weight with uncontrolled diets will not benefit in the long run as long as you ignore your emotions. Seeing your emotions and accepting them will increase control. Despite everything, allow yourself to get away with it once in a while, eat something when you are alone with a feeling that is difficult to handle once in a while. Most importantly, give yourself opportunities to recognize your feelings.

Sometimes it's best to just allow ourselves to experience that feeling.

If you think that you cannot cope with emotional hunger crises despite your experiences, you can get professional support.