Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is when we eat in the absence of physical hunger to comfort ourselves during periods of stress, boredom, depression, anxiety, frustration, work pressure, relationship trouble or when we reward ourselves with food.
According to the American Psychology Association, 30% of adults, when stressed, skip meals. In comparison, 34% of adults will overeat or choose unhealthy foods during stressful times, and 27% of adults claim to eat to manage their stress levels (APA 2014).
Both men and women may crave and use food to ease or control their emotions and bring comfort to themselves in times of anguish. At the same time, some choose not to eat in these circumstances by starving themselves because their feelings have affected their appetite. We know that how we feel and what we think affects our stomach, and how our gut feels affects how we think and feel (Read the Gut-Brain axis blog https://www.wellnessmdhealth.com/post/the-gut-brain-axis ).
Under and over-eating leads to malnutrition, which may lead to poor health outcomes and exacerbated stress levels.
To some extent, we all may use food to appease our emotions occasionally; in fact, it may even form part of our culture and background or learned behaviour from childhood. I am sure we can all remember a moment where we were given an ice cream or a candy bar after falling and grazing our knees or perhaps we were treated to a milkshake to celebrate the joy of receiving good grades at school.
