Emotional overeating is a condition in which someone repeatedly consumes food -not because he is hungry, but in order to feel better, to relax, to satisfy his emotional needs and regulate his emotions.
However, emotional overeating is not only connected to negative emotions, but it can manifest in a rewarding form in situations that bring about positive emotions.
A characteristic of the condition is that large amounts of food can either be consumed once or twice a day or throughout the day. Emotional overeating can sometimes resemble an addiction, when the person feels distressed when moving away from the food, when he needs larger and larger quantities in order to be satisfied, when he disregards his emotions, and when all this turns into a vicious cycle of guilt, appeasing promises and worsening repetitions of overeating episodes.
How can it be identified?
More or less we have all eaten more sometime in life when we were in a bad psychological situation or when we wanted to reward ourselves for an accomplishment. However, if you answer positively in most of the question below, you should ask yourself if your emotional state affects your eating habits and body health more than it should.
- Do you eat more when you are stressed?
- Do you eat when you aren’t hungry or continue eating when you feel full?
- Do you eat in order to feel better?
- Do you use food as a reward?
- Does food make you feel secure and safe?
- Do you find it difficult to control yourself when near food?
Differentiating between emotional and physical hunger
Emotional hunger
- Appears suddenly
- You desire to eat specific food -usually unhealthy
- You continue eating when you feel full
- You don’t have the feeling of hunger in your stomach but it rather comes as an obsessive thought of specific food
- Often leads to guilt and regret for having eaten too much.
Physical hunger
- Comes gradually
- You stop eating when you are full
- When you are really hungry you can feel your stomach growl
- It doesn’t lead to guilt or regret since you give your body what it needs