Emotional Eating: Feeding Those Feelings Part 2

Stress and emotional eating


It won’t surprise you to know that stress, and how you react to it, can be tangled up in your eating patterns. Stress presses your body’s panic button, and unleashes a cascade of internal chemical reactions that affect your feelings and your body. Stress activates your fight-or-flight response with the release of adrenaline and cortisol. This process can alter your digestion and your relationship with food. If you stay stressed for long periods, your body’s daily cortisol cycle will spiral out of whack, upsetting the normal internal conversation. Chronic stress allows these effects to continue indefinitely.


While we all have stress in our lives, each of us will respond to it differently and that includes how, when, and what we choose to eat. If a woman believes that showing her feelings is a sign of weakness, she might use food to hide that fear. Some women become obsessive-compulsive, and use strict food management to gain a sense of control over a stressful situation, especially one which is ongoing. Others retreat from stress, taking comfort in their favorite foods.

Whether we are using well-loved foods to calm ourselves, or depriving ourselves of them as punishment, we are preoccupying ourselves with food to prevent unwanted feelings, including — but not limited to — the big ones: anger, fear, despair, and shame.

Snack Food Groups

Type - Emotional Addictive Factor

Bready - Relieves feelings of insecurity and soothes dissatisfaction

Chewy - Relieves tension/stress and need to slow down and unwind

Creamy - Helps satisfy need to be nurtured and comforted

Crunchy - Helps release anxiety and social pressure

Salty - Redirects anger, frustration and violence

Sugary - Helps satisfy the need to give and/or receive love

How Does Emotional Eating Soothe Negative Feelings?



Eating does several things to relieve anxiety and other negative emotions:

• Food changes the chemical balance in the body. Some foods increase endorphin levels, which in turn creates a sense of happiness or contentment.
  
  
• We associate being full with comfort. Fullness increases comfort, which counteracts negative emotions. And if a person eats past fullness to discomfort, the physical sensation distracts the mind from other problems.
  


• Eating takes time that might otherwise be spent thinking negative thoughts. A person uses even more time in preparing food and cleaning up after eating.
  


• Celebrations usually involve food, and a person may therefore be conditioned to be in a more celebratory mood when eating.

How to regain control of your eating habits

Though strong emotions can trigger cravings for food, you can take steps to control those cravings. To help stop emotional eating, try these suggestions:

• Learn to recognize true hunger. Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate just a few hours ago and don't have a rumbling stomach, you're probably not really hungry. Give the craving a few minutes to pass.
  


• Know your triggers. For the next several days, write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you're feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you may see patterns emerge that reveal negative eating patterns and triggers to avoid.
  


• Look elsewhere for comfort. Instead of unwrapping a candy bar, take a walk, treat yourself to a movie, listen to music, read or call a friend. If you think that stress relating to a particular event is nudging you toward the refrigerator, try talking to someone about it to distract yourself. Plan enjoyable events for yourself.
  


• Don't keep unhealthy foods around. Avoid having an abundance of high-calorie comfort foods in the house. If you feel hungry or blue, postpone the shopping trip for a few hours so that these feelings don't influence your decisions at the store.
  


• Snack healthy. If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie food, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with fat-free dip or unbuttered popcorn. Or test low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving.
  


• Eat a balanced diet. If you're not getting enough calories to meet your energy needs, you may be more likely to give in to emotional eating. Try to eat at fairly regular times and don't skip breakfast. Include foods from the basic groups in your meals. Emphasize whole grains, vegetables and fruits, as well as low-fat dairy products and lean protein sources. When you fill up on the basics, you're more likely to feel fuller, longer.
  


• Exercise regularly and get adequate rest. Your mood is more manageable and your body can more effectively fight stress when it's fit and well rested.
  

If you give in to emotional eating, forgive yourself and start fresh the next day. Try to learn from the experience, and make a plan for how you can prevent it in the future. Focus on the positive changes you're making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that ensure better health.