Emotional eating: why it happens and what to do

Have you noticed that the way you eat shifts when you’re feeling sad, bored or anxious?

A lot of people say they eat more - or sometimes less - as a way of getting through difficult emotions.

While this reaction is very common, it can strip away the enjoyment of food. Over time it may start to feel upsetting, and can trigger further feelings such as shame and harsh self-judgement.

To make matters more complicated, diet culture is hard to escape. That can leave our relationship with eating, food and body image feeling tangled and confusing.

Emotional eating is common

"Emotional eating" describes eating behaviours (most often eating more) that happen in response to uncomfortable emotions.

Studies suggest about 20 percent of people regularly engage in emotional eating, and it appears more frequently among adolescents and women. One study of more than 1,500 adolescents found 34 percent reported emotional eating when they felt sad, and 40 percent did so when they were anxious.

The foods people reach for are often fast foods and other energy-dense, nutrient-poor convenience options.

Stress, strong emotions and depression

For some, emotional eating is essentially a long-standing habit - something learned earlier in life and carried forward.

For others, several influences can raise the likelihood of emotional eating. For instance, stress and intense emotions can have physiological effects that shape appetite by affecting hormones such as cortisol, insulin and glucose.

Higher impulsivity (acting before thinking), vulnerability to depression, a tendency to ruminate, and difficulties with emotion regulation can also make emotional eating more likely.

So what do you do?

To begin with, it helps to remember that changes in appetite and eating are normal. But if the way you respond to difficult emotions through eating no longer feels helpful, there are practical steps you can take.

Start small with changes that are realistic yet can make a big difference - for example, making sleep a priority and eating at regular times.

From there, you can begin paying closer attention to the ways you respond to emotions and to signals of hunger.

Expand your emotional awareness

We often sort emotions into “good” and “bad”. That can lead to fear, avoidance, and coping strategies that aren’t particularly helpful - including emotional eating.

It can also be useful to name what you’re feeling more precisely. Instead of a broad label such as “sad”, it might be that you feel isolated, powerless or victimised.

When we identify the specific emotion, it becomes easier to approach it with curiosity - what it might be telling us, how it shows up in the mind and body, and how it shapes our thoughts and actions.

Tap into your feelings of hunger and fullness

Another approach that can support healthier eating behaviours is developing a more intuitive style of eating.

Intuitive eating involves noticing, understanding and responding to internal cues of hunger and fullness. That might include recognising physical signs of hunger, choosing food that feels both nourishing and enjoyable, and paying attention to the sensations that signal you are full.

This approach also encourages flexibility, including reflecting on the pleasure food and eating can bring. It can help you enjoy meals out with friends, as well as try local delicacies when travelling.

It may also ease the psychological distress that comes from feeling out of control with eating patterns, alongside related negative body image.

When is it time to seek help?

For some people, thoughts and behaviours connected to food, eating and body image start to affect their life in harmful ways.

Support from friends and family, reputable online resources, and - in some cases - a trained professional can make a meaningful difference.

A range of therapeutic interventions can help with factors linked to emotional eating. The best fit will depend on your circumstances, needs, stage of life, and other considerations, such as whether you are neurodivergent.

Often, the most helpful starting point is working with someone who can bring compassion and understanding to your situation and collaborate with you. That support might involve:

• exploring patterns that may sit underneath these emotions, thoughts and behaviours
• helping you to identify and understand your emotions
• supporting you to work through other experiences, such as exposure to trauma
• building a more flexible, intuitive approach to eating.

One risk that can follow emotional eating is the pull to start dieting, which can contribute to disordered eating and eating-disorder behaviours. Possible indicators of an eating disorder include:

• recent rapid weight loss
• being preoccupied with weight and shape (often out of line with how others perceive you)
• eating large amounts of food in a short period (two hours or less) alongside a feeling of losing control
• eating in secret
• compensating for food eaten (through vomiting, exercise or laxatives).

Evidence-based approaches can help people experiencing eating disorders. To locate a health professional with specialist knowledge in this area, search the Butterfly Foundation’s expert database.

If this story has raised concerns or you need to talk to someone, please consult this list to find a 24/7 crisis helpline in your country, and reach out for help.

Inge Gnatt, PhD Candidate, Lecturer in Psychology, Swinburne University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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