What is emotional eating?
What do you do when you feel upset, stressed, sad or angry? If the answer is searching the pantry or refrigerator for comfort food (e.g., sweets, junk food rich in calories, etc.), then it may be possible that you tend to find some relief from stress or soothe/suppress your negative feelings through food and this practise is usually called emotional eating. This can be a regular coping mechanism when you feel upset, so ingesting loads of food is a way of making yourself feel better and satisfying your emotional needs, but afterwards, when the food is gone and there is nothing left, the emotional problem rises again and you could, actually, feel worse and, many times, guilty or ashamed for overeating like that, leading to a cycle of weight changes.
Why do you eat your emotions?
First, let’s get it clear that emotional eating isn’t “gender exclusive”, so anyone can use food as a coping mechanism.
Second, sometimes you may feel a sensation of being “empty” on the inside and food may seem like a tasty way of filling that empty space inside you, as if that space could be filled just like your stomach when you’re hungry.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to, sometimes, use food as a way to celebrate something or reward yourself for doing a good…
