7 TIPS FOR MANAGING EMOTIONAL EATING
Do you find yourself eating more than you intended to, or using food as a comfort blanket when you’re feeling emotional? Do you find yourself eating when you’re not hungry? Emotional eating refers to eating as a response to emotional or environmental factors as opposed to your internal hunger and satiety signals.
Many people turn to food for comfort, especially during difficult times. I often hear people associating emotional eating with negative emotions such as loss, sadness and stress. However, it can also be driven by positive emotions such as treating yourself after a successful day or celebrating a birthday.
Emotional eating is natural and normal in a variety of different situations, but it can become unhelpful if it is your only coping strategy. So here are a few tips for managing emotional eating that can help you rebalance your relationship with food, leaving you able to start enjoying it again rather than expecting it to solve a problem for you.
1. Identify your triggers for emotional eating
When people eat for emotional reasons, rather than because they are hungry, it often correlates with wanting to suppress a feeling or the need to fill a void sometimes making it difficult to identify the trigger, because let’s face it, grabbing a biscuit is much easier than addressing why we want to eat it in the first place! So…
Next time you find yourself wanting to eat when you’re not hungry, take a minute to think about what emotion(s) you’re feeling at that time. Are you bored, stressed, anxious, lonely, sad, irritable, angry? Even if you can't distinguish the emotion initially, I encourage you to reflect on the experience afterwards to determine what led up to that moment and keep practising. It is normal to find this particularly challenging initially but with practice, can become much easier.
Once you're aware of what your triggers may be, you can start to implement alternative strategies to help you manage your emotions. Such as…
2. Think about healthy ways to deal with negative and challenging emotions instead of turning to food
If you struggle with emotional eating, diversifying your coping strategies for dealing with these emotions is important in order to learn how to manage your emotions in a healthy way, which can not only break the habit of emotional eating but also improve your relationship with food and yourself.
Once you’re aware of certain situations that often result in you eating emotionally, it can be helpful to ask yourself the following questions to think about what your body might benefit from the most?
Am I hungry?
Am I thirsty?
Am I stressed?
Am I tired?
What is my body trying to tell me?
What is the kindest thing I could do for myself right now?
You can then try a variety of activities or routines to support you and your body when experiencing these emotions. For example, if you notice that feeling stressed makes you reach for food when you’re not hungry, you might find that yoga, exercise, going for a walk, journaling or meditation may help you relax instead. If you’re tired, perhaps having a nap might be the kindest thing you could do for yourself. If feeling lonely leads to you emotionally eating, you could reach out to or visit a friend.
It is important to remember that everyone is different and what works for them will differ too. It may take trying a few different things to find out the best solution for you. I often find with my clients that creating a ‘self care toolkit’ so to speak works wonders - knowing there are a variety of actions they could choose and they can pick the right tool for them in that moment.
3. Aim to eat nutritious and well balanced meals and snacks
Consuming certain foods can increase the risk of cravings, mood swings and fluctuations in our energy and appetite. To minimise the impact of this, ensuring you eat well balanced and nutritious meals can support and maintain our blood glucose levels, mood, energy and appetite throughout the day. So what does this look like?
Incorporating some form of protein, fats, lots of fibre and a smaller portion of complex carbohydrates with each meal will help you well on your way.
Aiming to have ½ plate veggies, ¼ plate protein, ¼ plate complex carbs and 1 thumb size healthy fats can be a helpful visualisation of where to start.
Other foods including salmon, seeds, nuts, dark chocolate, meat, fish, beans, pulses, oats, eggs, yoghurt, avocados, all rich sources of omega 3, B vitamins and flavonoids are great to include
I want to remind you that everyone is different and so listening to your body, being in tune with your hunger and satiety signals is also vital in learning what works best for you.
4. Increase your awareness of the foods you’re eating and how they make you feel
Do you have your go to comfort foods? Are there any foods that remind you of your childhood like your mum’s chicken soup, or grandmother’s fish pie, or foods you turn to that make you feel good such as biscuits and chocolate? Carbohydrate rich foods are often popular to turn to when craving a ‘hug in a bowl’. Carbs are actually needed for us to produce the happy hormone serotonin, so if we’re feeling low, our bodies may well reach for carb rich foods such as pasta, pie, crisps or sweeter foods including chocolate, sweets and cookies to boost our mood.
However, when emotionally eating, we can often override our hunger and fullness levels, resulting in potentially overeating. This can lead to feeling sluggish, full and bloated afterwards, rather than uplifted, energised and happy, which can further add to the cycle of emotional eating. There is never a need to feel guilty for eating, regardless of whether you’re hungry or not. But there are ways to increase your awareness of what you’re eating to ensure that the food you choose is the food that will make you the happiest. For example:
Is there a similarity between the foods you may turn to when feeling emotional?
What are your beliefs about these foods?
Do you have certain rules around certain foods?
I often hear from clients that they feel certain foods are ‘bad’ which commonly include biscuits, cake, and chocolate. If they eat these foods, they may feel ‘bad’ which can lead to further emotional eating, or even binge eating that particular food. This can lead to feelings of guilt and shame, which in turn leads them to seeking comfort from, you’ve guessed it, the food they turn to when feeling emotional. And the cycle continues.
5. Avoid eating when you’re feeling stressed, anxious or bored
Eating when stressed, anxious or bored can increase the risk of mindless eating. Instead, have a think about other ways you could manage your emotions, sometimes even distraction can be helpful too. This might be…
Removing yourself from the environment that’s contributing to that emotional desire for food.
Trying some relaxation techniques, getting outside in the fresh air, or running a bath.
Reaching out to your nutritionist, friend or therapist.
6. Ensure you’re getting adequate sleep
Sleep plays a crucial role in our ability to manage emotions, stress, mood and appetite. You may have noticed a change in your appetite, cravings, and mood the more or less sleep you get. When tired, we’re more likely to reach for more high-sugar foods and overeat. The impact food has on our body alters too, depending on how stressed and sleep deprived we are.
7. Seek help and support
If you feel that you’re stuck in a cycle of emotional eating, it can be incredibly challenging to break free from and I’d recommend seeking professional help. This may be from a therapist or a qualified nutritionist who can help provide you with the tools to help you manage your emotions, build a healthy relationship with food and overcome emotional eating. And if you want to talk to me about emotional eating or your relationship with food, I offer a free 45-minute discovery call, just click here and we can have a chat.
