Emotional eating is a coping mechanism for dealing with negative emotions. Instead of facing the causes of stress, anger, sadness or anxiety directly, you soothe or comfort yourself with food. But after the initial pleasure from eating dissipates, the emotions that triggered the craving still remain. Nothing has been done to rectify or remedy the emotional state, and you often feel worse than before.
Origins
Emotional eating is typically caused by something known as emotional hunger. The Mayo Clinic explains that emotional eating stems from a number of different situations, including relationship conflicts, work pressure, financial stress, health problems and unemployment. It may even be simply a result of fatigue or unpleasant weather.
Symptoms
Emotional eating typically comes on quite suddenly. It triggers very specific cravings that are dependent on the individual and situation. For women, emotional eating generally involves sweets, such as ice creams, cookies and chocolate. Men tend to turn to standard comfort foods, mostly homemade meals like casseroles, steaks and similar fare. Boredom prompts salty cravings, while sadness is liable to cause sweet cravings, asserts Kidshealth.org. Emotional eating also causes overeating and the subsequent feelings of guilt.
Significance
One of the more significant issues with emotional eating is that it can become cyclical in nature, cautions the Mayo Clinic. You feel stressed, angry or anxious, causing you to overeat. This can then trigger another emotional response, such as guilt, anger or sadness, prompting you to overeat again. This cycle can lead to weight gain, which may further exacerbate the emotional need for food.
Self-Care
Emotional eating can be difficult to treat. The Mayo Clinic suggests trying self-care methods before seeking help from a professional. Methods often entail first determining whether hunger pangs are physical or emotional. It's also beneficial to establish an eating schedule as well as to track your diet in a food diary. Fighting boredom with physical or mental activities, managing stress, removing temptations and snacking on healthy foods can also help to dampen emotional hunger.
Professional Help
If self-care methods fail to provide results, consider talking to a medical professional about your emotional hunger. Mental health providers can help to identify your triggers as well as establish proper coping techniques for stress, anxiety and anger. They're also able to diagnosis any mental health issues that may be contributing to emotional eating.
