Annette Coffey
- Charlie Mackesy
Have you ever found yourself looking down the bottom of an ice-cream tub, or on the last slice of pizza and thought, “I don’t even remember tasting, eating or finishing that?” If that scenario sounds as familiar to you as it does to me, then you are not on your own. This is what is known as emotional eating.
Some of our basic human needs are safety, security and human connection, which are all seriously lacking in these trying times with Covid-19 among us. These unusual times feed into our emotions and can give rise to seeking to be comforted, as one of our primal sources of comfort is food.
So, what is emotional eating? Basically, it means that your emotions - not your body - dictate when and how much you eat. We emotionally eat to avoid facing problems and taking the necessary actions to solve them. Eating this way helps to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness.
The most common foods associated with emotional eating are highly processed and calorific. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t dream of eating a bag of spinach if I was stressed. These foods are scientifically targeted to trigger reward pathways in our brain, which gives us pleasure. These foods can trick our body into ignoring feelings of fullness, resulting in us finding it difficult to stop after we’ve started. It’s important to say that emotional eating is not always a bad thing. Some of my loveliest memories are around food – Christmas dinner, popcorn at the cinema and Pringles watching Netflix. The problem is that we are using food to cope, instead of nourishment and enjoyment.
I found what helped me with emotional eating and to get control over it, was to have a clear understanding of what is emotional eating as opposed to just being hungry.
Tips to Stop Emotional Eating
1. Put your hand on the part of your body where the hunger is and ask yourself, “Does the hunger go to your head or to your stomach?” Pause for a moment and take note of your response. Then ask, “What am I trying to feed, myself or my feelings?”
2. Accept that you are an emotional eater. Don’t criticise yourself - there is great power in owning your emotions. They serve a purpose and highlight that something needs addressing.
3. Start a ‘Food and Mood Diary’, by writing down everything you have eaten and drank daily for a week. Beside the food or drink, make a note of how you were feeling before you ate and what time you ate. This can be a powerful tool for bringing an awareness to your eating patterns. It highlights what your triggers are. It shows the types of food you crave, brings awareness to your emotions and identifies exactly how much food and drink you’re taking in and therefore you become accountable.
4. Take a brisk walk outdoors or simply getting some fresh air can bring both physical and mental benefits. Exercise releases a happy hormone in the brain. If you can, I would like to challenge you to leave your phone at home. This small step can feel so freeing as it gives us a break from the constant chatter and news.
5. This acronym from addiction recovery can be powerful – HALT:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired
Halt, meaning to stop. This powerful acronym can help bring balance into our lives. It can stop us in our tracks when we’re reaching for the second packet of crisps and forces us to assess the situation. By asking ourselves, “Am I really hungry?”, “Am I angry?”, “Am I lonely?”, “Am I tired?”, we can identify the underlying feelings and we can take the appropriate action.
6. Every time we decide to do something different and don’t give in to emotional eating, we are creating new neural pathways and with time, we can break the cycle and become empowered in the process.
Emotional eating is a learned behaviour and will not be unlearned overnight. It may at times seem like an uphill struggle and it’s important not to judge yourself when you slip up. Getting professional help to bring awareness and understanding around your emotional triggers and to develop alternative coping strategies, can be invaluable in regaining control of your eating patterns. If you need any help or support around this issue, please feel free to contact me.
“Remember that ‘stressed’ is ‘desserts’ spelled backwards!”
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