Subscribe8 Indicators of Emotional Eating
Many people overeat for emotional reasons. Without doing some serious reflection it is difficult to pinpoint whether our food choices come from an emotional need or a physical need.
Here are eight warning signs that your eating may be driven by hidden emotions.
- Your hunger comes on suddenly.
Physical hunger comes on slowly. Hunger from emotional eating often comes on quickly and suddenly. - You crave specific foods - generally not carrot sticks or steamed broccoli.
Cravings for specific, usually unhealthy foods is a sign of emotional eating. Often people like the rush they get from satisfying their cravings. That rush is fulfilling emotional hunger. - Your hunger feels urgent.
You need a particular food right away and you're willing to walk out of your way, or get in your car late at night, or raid your kid's Halloween candy to get it. Physical hunger, unless you haven't eaten for a very long time, is usually pretty patient. It will wait for food. Emotional hunger demands to be satisfied immediately. - Your hunger is often paired with an upsetting emotion.
If you backtrack a few hours or a few days you'll usually find an upsetting event and feeling that triggered the urge. Hunger that's connected to an upsetting emotion or situation is definitely emotional hunger. Physical hunger is not typically triggered by emotions. - Your eating habits involve unconscious eating.
All of a sudden you're eating ice-cream and you find the whole container is gone. When you're eating for physical reasons, you are usually mindful of what you're doing. If you catch yourself eating "just because," then it's likely you're eating for emotional reasons. - You don't stop eating in response to being full.
You keep wanting more of the taste of the food. Physical hunger doesn't need to be stuffed in order to be satisfied. Emotional hunger on the other hand often demands more and more food to feel satisfied. - Your hunger isn't located in belly.
You crave the taste of a certain food in you mouth or can't stop thinking of a certain food. Feeling hungry in this way is usually a sign of emotional hunger. Physical hunger is happy to get what it can, while emotional hunger usually focuses on specific tastes and textures. - After you satisfy my hunger, you are often filled with a sense of regret or guilt.
Feeding your body what it needs is not something to feel guilty about. If you feel guilty after you eat, it's likely because part of you knows you're not eating just to satisfy physical hunger.
Many thanks to Roger Gould of Shrink Yourself for this.
More like this in Psychology
Interesting post. Personally, I have to be watchful for #5 and #6.
Brian
Replywow... i can say yes to all of those... maybe i should see a therapist or something...
ReplyI can relate to all of them too.
ReplyHmm... I find my genuine hunger tends to come on suddenly and urgently. Emotional hunger is much more meandering and controllable. And I must be the only person who actually does crave carrot sticks and broccoli. Been getting a lot of bok choy cravings lately...
6 and 8 can be an issue with eating for real hunger as well. Sometimes food is just so tasty it's hard to stop when merely no longer hungry and I end up waiting until the really full feeling comes on. Sadly, I've also found that I feel guilty after eating anything but the absolute sparsest, tiniest meals. Even a snack of a piece of fruit and a couple of nuts when I'm so hungry I'm lightheaded will make me feel guilty if I think I might be eating a meal soon.
I've found that since my signals are so strange, I have to differentiate hunger based on how long since I last ate and how much I've eaten and excercised so far that day. It's far from perfect and a lot further from intuitive eating than I'd like, but otherwise I end up so starving and lightheaded I can't even walk to the kitchen. *that's* when the delivery and other unhealthy stuff looks tempting.
ReplyYep, been there...done all of those! Thanks for the posting!
ReplyThese are great tips to look out for. Sometimes this emotional "kick" is so deep within us, we don't even realize we are doing it.
But, where there's knowledge, there's power!
thanks!
Sylvia C. Hall
ReplyGreat list!
I'm sort of with Entangled, though. For me, real physical hunger can be quite urgent and compelling.
I find a simple test for me whether it's "real" or just "cravey" is how many things I feel hungry for and whether they're more protein based or sweet based. If I'm hungry for protein and even vegetables sound good, I'm really hungry.
I can be "hungry" for ice cream after a full meal, but that's just cravings, not hunger.
ReplyI can relate to all of the above.....its sad really!
ReplyThat's another thing I tend to use, Crabby. I do have a weird habit of craving things that most people don't (specific vegetables, sometimes red meat which I don't even like once I'm eating it, peanut butter) so I think they tend to be based on nutrients my body wants and not taste alone.
I'm lucky enough to have grown up without most comfort and junk foods (okay, I hated it as a kid, but I love the habits it gave me). Now my comfort food is anything at all slathered with tons of tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper. The spicier the better, but a box of frozen vegetables will do when I'm overstressed or upset.
ReplySo why did low carb eliminate my 'emotional eating?' Maybe it was never emotional to begin with, since all these symptoms were caused by a blood sugar drop.
ReplyThat's exactly what happened to me; when I ate low-carb, my emotional over-eating stopped. Sugar is evil.
ReplyI agree with many of these things, especially the mouth-watering cravings for protein, then something sweet. Question is, what do I do about it besides telling myself that it's just a craving and I'll never get my weight where I want it If I give in.
Reply#1 tends to not be the case for me--real, physical hunger can come to me full-force, especially if I've been exercising (like, 2 hours of not feeling hungry at all, then bam, there it strikes). The rest, well, I know it well enough, but most often, those 'symptoms' are usually not strong enough to make me go all out of my way to satisfy the craving. Maybe bless my laziness that makes it so that I can't be bothered to go get that Sundae at 10 pm. Or that my trigger is boredom, which is perhaps easier to battle (making myself busy) than anger, loneliness or another similar emotion.
#2 is so true. If it's about something sweet, then it's undoubtedly a craving, in my case.
ReplyIt's funny you post this now. I've recently quit a very stressful job, and have stopped eating emotionally. I didn't make an effort to, but looking at the list of symptoms, they were all behaviors I have stopped doing unconsciously. It's all making sense...
As a consequence, though, I am a very emotional person. I am getting thinner, but I wear my heart on my sleeve. It's weird to laugh and jump around when I'm happy and to sob when I'm sad. Readers be aware: when you stop using food to express emotion, you actually feel your emotions. You are not going crazy, at least I hope not.
I guess it'll all even out after a while, but getting used to dealing with feelings instead of stuffing food on top of them is hard work. Especially for those around me ;)
ReplyI don't know how will the body respond to #6. The fact that the stomach is full, it will supposedly get rid of the excess food.
ReplyThis is one serious situation we need to watch out for, though i think it's not common for most people.
wrightwrongs, your emotions will even themselves out after you've expressed what you weren't able to/didn't feel safe to express before.
I'm not so sure about #3. Physical hunger can feel urgent. Emotional eating has more to do with the "mouth feel" of a food and an urgent need to experience that.
ReplyWe certainly wouldn't to be involved in that situation. Unconscious eating can be a real problem, especially with our food supply. We have to watch out for out budget in this one.
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ReplyThanks, Peace Cat. Have you done this before? Any tips on getting the emotions out without, well, looking crazy?
Wrightwrongs,
Yes, I certainly have. What worked for me was keeping journals in which I let out on paper whatever was bothering me. Over time, it felt like the edges were smoothed out. It's a safe outlet. If that's not your style, maybe look into singing, playing an instrument, or listening to a type of music that matches your mood. Since music itself is nonverbal and emotion-based, it can be therapuetic. Art and handicrafts are also good ways to visualize emotions.
I'm not a therapist or health care provider--just someone who's been there and back. Good luck finding your way through your healing process.
ReplyI can equate my behavior to a few of these. This is a problem I feeel I need to tackle. I thought this post was pretty helpful too.
Replyhttp://shegoddess.com/index.php/archives/15/whats-eating-you/
Interesting list! For me, #s 1, 2, 3 and 6 are very relevant, especially # 1:
"Your hunger comes on suddenly. Physical hunger comes on slowly. Hunger from emotional eating often comes on quickly and suddenly." That's me, exactly.
Thanks for the thought-provoking post.
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