Emotional eating means that you eat for reasons aside from hunger. You may eat because you’re feeling sad, depressed, stressed, or lonely and you may use food as a reward. Food can be soothing and distract you from the real issue.
If you’re an emotional eater, you may not listen to your body’s natural hunger signals. You may eat more than you need or want.
Emotional eating
1. You eat when you’re not hungry
Occasionally, it’s okay to indulge in food. But if you’re routinely eating even though you don’t feel hungry, it’s definitely a bad habit. It could be a sign that you’re on the path of emotional eating.
2. You lack other coping mechanisms
If food is your only mechanism for coping with difficulties in your life, it may mean that your emotional eating has gotten to the point where it’s doing you more harm. Are there other things that you do to cope with stress or challenging emotions? Exercising? Calling a friend to talk it out? If not, try finding other coping techniques and engaging in those the next time you feel the urge to use food to soothe your emotions. Emotional eating will only make you fat.
3. You’re afraid of not getting your share
Do you ever see yourself eating something because you’re afraid of missing out on the enjoyment of a particular meal or food? Like eating a cake because all of your co-workers ate cake and you don’t want to miss out. Or having alcohol at a party just because you don’t want to be the only one not drinking.
4. You’re embarrassed about food
Many people fear that others will judge us for what they eat. It’s as if we expect we can only eat salads, or others will think we’re gluttonous. And this is often heightened when we emotionally eat because our relationship with food has become even more warped up. If you like eating alone, or you don’t like talking to others about what you eat, this could be a sign of emotional eating.
5. You judge your body
To be sure, judging your body doesn’t always mean you’re an emotional eater. Many women, have negative thoughts about their bodies at some point. When we emotionally eat, it often causes us to feel guilty, and to feel even worse about ourselves. And this may often negatively impact our body image.
6. You’re preoccupied with food
If you notice yourselves frequently looking at photos of food on Instagram and you think you “shouldn’t” have, or feeling emotional pangs when you eye the baked goods in the grocery store, these are signs of emotional eatinng to be aware of.