Emotional eating is turning to food, typically foods high in carbs, fat and/or sugar, to help regulate or manage emotions. Although this is typically associated with emotions such as stress, sadness or boredom, emotional eating also occurs in response to emotions such as happiness, pride or relief. All individuals engage in emotional eating from time to time, as food is naturally comforting. Emotional eating becomes problematic when it is used as the main coping skill for emotions. Additionally, emotional eating doesn’t solve the problem at hand and leaves us with two problems: the original problem and often shame/guilt and excess calories consumed during the emotional eating episode.
Behaviors and Signs
A desire to eat when experiencing emotions, most notably sadness, stress, boredom, joy, pride, or relief
A desire to eat even if not physically hungry
Thinking of food as a “reward” (“I made it through a hard day at work, I deserve ice cream”)
Health Risks
Lack of varied coping to deal with stress
Overweight and obesity, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.
Type 2 diabetes due to irregular eating patterns and potential weight gain.
High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
Psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.
