Breaking the cycle of emotional eating

Have you ever seen a snap chat of your friends out having fun when you were uninvited … and then reached for a bag of chips? Have you ever had a stressful day at work and then ordered a large pizza for dinner when you got home? Have you ever found out someone you love has done wrong by you and then devoured a box of malteasers? If you’ve ever done anything like this you may have been experiencing emotional eating. So what really is emotional eating? And is it really as damaging as it’s made out to be?Emotional eating is in essence, when we eat to suppress or deal with unwanted emotions such as sadness, stress, anger, loneliness, anxiety, fear or even boredom. When we emotionally binge it is usually high carb or high sugar foods that we crave such as pizza, chips, chocolate, lollies, ice cream or cookies. So why do we crave these foods? Several studies have shown that high sugar and high carbohydrate foods can release serotonin and dopamine into your blood stream. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects a number of processes including mood, appetite and digestion. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in our reward-motivated behaviour. Both neurotransmitters are directly involved in triggering our happiness – therefore when we eat these foods we feel pleasure and satisfaction.However more times than not, this isn’t the only emotion that comes with emotional eating. Often times emotional eating can trigger a emotional eating can trigger a cycle whereby we:

Experience a negative event/emotion

Eat large quantities of high sugar, high carbohydrate foods

Feel satisfaction/happiness

Feel guilty about over-eating unhealthy foods

And so the cycle repeats.

Food can also serve as a distraction by which we choose to eat instead of face the emotional event, thought or behaviour that’s triggered these feelings. While our attention is focused on food it takes away from the uncomfortable emotions associated with what we are currently experiencing. So how do we stop it?

Identify the trigger: When we feel a certain emotion we can often act on impulse by reaching to food to subside the unwanted feelings. However by stopping and becoming self-aware of what is triggering these feelings and therefore these actions we can gain insight into these behaviours and replace them with healthier alternatives. Keep healthy foods in your house: By keeping healthy foods in your house, even if you are to emotionally eat it won’t necessarily be on that chocolate you’ve got stashed away, or the cookies at the back of the pantry. By all means, do enjoy these foods in moderation, however if they are a staple in your household it may be worth your while to replace them with healthier options. Keep a diary: Keeping a daily food diary as well as a daily diary of what emotions you felt on that particular day may be useful in gaining further insight into what triggers your emotional eating as well as what foods you are likely to consume when they arise. Relaxation techniques: Once a negative emotion has been identified it is important to develop healthier strategies for dealing with them. This may be in the form of meditation, going for a walk, journal writing or listening to music or exercising.