970x125
Do you ever find yourself standing in front of the open refrigerator looking for something to eat even though you weren’t hungry? You knew that you weren’t hungry and you’d feel guilty if you did eat, but you had the snack anyway? Why? Could it be that this unnecessary eating was triggered by your emotions?
Countless studies have shown that eating is frequently used to soothe unpleasant emotions like stress or anxiety, boredom, anger, and depression. Emotional eating can take several forms. The most extreme is an eating binge, which is rapidly eating a large amount of food while feeling out-of-control. Binge eating is a feature of Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia Nervosa. Less pathological and much more common types of emotional eating can be thought of as either emotional snacking or grazing. The typical emotional snack doesn’t feel out-of-control like a binge, and less food is consumed. Maybe you’ve just had a difficult conversation with your partner, and to feel better, you find yourself looking in the refrigerator for something to eat.
Grazing isn’t a discrete eating event but rather a sequence of small amounts of food consumed over a longer period of time. All afternoon, you’re doing an unpleasant or boring chore, so you use frequent eating to break up the monotony.
How do you know if you’re an emotional eater? Binge eating is usually obvious, but snacking and grazing are more subtle. Here are several questions you can ask yourself:
- What are the circumstances surrounding your eating? Emotional eating is less likely in the morning, more likely in the afternoon and evening, less likely when other people are around, and more likely when you are alone.
- Is the eating part of a regular meal? If you’re having a meal, it’s probably not emotional eating. If it’s not a meal, and you’re not hungry, it could be emotional eating.
- Was the urge to eat sudden, or did it develop gradually? If it was gradual, it probably was physical hunger, while a sudden urge is more likely the result of emotions.
- Has anything happened recently that was upsetting? Was there a phone call, a conversation, or even a song that changed your mood? Did anyone cut you off in traffic or treat you rudely in a store?
- Did you enjoy leisurely eating the food, or did you gobble it quickly and then feel guilty afterward?
- When you ate, did you choose a specific food, or did you just eat whatever was easiest to get?
Next time you’re tempted to eat, and you’re not having a meal, stop for a moment and examine what’s been happening and how you are feeling. Is something stressing you out? Are you feeling sad or angry? If you can identify how you’re feeling, you can decide what you need to do to feel better without eating.
Feelings, even unpleasant ones, are transitory. They may have something important to tell you. Don’t let binges, snacking, or grazing drown out that message.
