Decoding Emotional Eating: 4 Reasons Why Food Comforts You
Emotional eating can be comforting in the short term, but why do we turn to food for solace in the first place?
Picture this: you have had quite a terrible day at work or otherwise, and the minute you return home, you feel like diving into a bowl of ramen, a slice of pizza, or even a tub of ice cream.
Sound familiar?
(Don’t worry, we have all been there.)
Turns out, our relationship with food is bi-directional. So what we eat affects our mood, and our mood affects what we eat. We have explored the psychology behind the first half in our previous articles; you should check that one out if you haven’t already: Does food affect your mood?
Back to the topic at hand. Finding solace in food can be quite comforting, no doubt. However, relying on it as a mood booster at all times is not very healthy.
So why is it that many of us resort to emotional eating, and what are the factors that trigger this behaviour in us?
This is exactly what we will explore in this article. If you stick around till the end, we discuss four steps to help you control your emotional eating behaviour.
Shortcuts For The Busy Reader
4. Developmental Factors
What Is Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating can be described as our tendency to consume food as a means of regulating our emotions and not because of our physical needs. Studies suggest that in many cases, the food eaten tends to be hyperpalatable in nature. These are foods that contain a specific mix of fat, sodium, sugar, and carbohydrates, making it difficult for us to resist them and consume more. Some examples of these include desserts, fast food, salty snacks, etc.
Consuming these foods when we are experiencing stress or negative emotions such as loneliness, boredom, anxiety, etc. tends to provide us with comfort. However, if this behaviour persists, it can be detrimental to our health.
New research suggests that emotional eating is linked with obesity. Furthermore, according to a 2023 study, it is also associated with diastolic dysfunction, thereby increasing one’s risk for stroke and heart disease. Emotional eating can also increase the likelihood of obtaining a type 2 diabetes and hypertension diagnosis as well. In addition to affecting our physical health, it can also impact our mental health, with research identifying that it increases body dissatisfaction and depression.
Given its harmful impact on our lives and health, it becomes crucial to understand why we engage in this behaviour in the first place.
Why Do You Emotionally Eat?
Much is not known about why we tend to emotionally eat, but researchers and scientists propose the following to be a few factors that result in this unhealthy behaviour.
1. Stress Response
Whenever we are in a stressful situation, regardless of whether it is physical or psychological, a hormone known as cortisol is produced. Cortisol is a fight-or-flight hormone, i.e., it helps us navigate stressors effectively.
Cortisol production reduces our blood, increases insulin, and reduces our blood pressure, which not only increases our appetite but also makes us crave sugar- and fat-filled foods.
Evolutionarily, the consumption of extra calories supported our ability to fight and survive in such a situation. And though we may not encounter situations to our detriment, we still experience smaller stressors that still trigger the same instincts.
Let's see how this plays out in the modern world with two specific examples.
Consider the COVID-19 pandemic which acted as a situational stressor. Studies conducted during this period indicate that the global environment combined with loneliness, boredom, anxiety, and depression fueled emotional eating among individuals.
Similarly, the holiday season acts as another example. The holidays bring with them stressors like financial pressures, chaotic travel plans, and awkward social interactions. Add in the constant pressure of avoiding sugary treats to keep your weight in check, and you have the perfect recipe for emotional eating.
2. Inability to Distinguish Between Physical and Emotional Hunger
One of the reasons we resort to emotional eating is that we seldom can distinguish whether we are feeling emotionally hungry or physically hungry. Since emotional hunger tends to be more powerful, we more often than not mistake it for physical hunger. To get a better grip on our eating behaviour, we must be able to differentiate between these two types of hunger. Here are some cues you can look out for:
Physical Hunger | Emotional Hunger |
|---|---|
 |  |
It happens gradually—you get progressively more hungry over time | It feels urgent and happens suddenly. |
Open to a variety of food options, including vegetables and fruits. | Seeking out specific foods, e.g., you need a pizza and nothing else will do. |
You might feel it hours after your last meal. | You may feel it right after you eat your meal. |
Feel satisfied once you are full. | Feel satisfied when you are stuffed. |
Eating doesn't make you feel bad, as you are satisfying a need. | Tends to feel guilt or shame after eating. |
3. Food As A Reward
Food acts as a natural reward for us, as it is essential for survival. In addition to this, each of us may associate food with a reward due to psychological factors such as coping or feeling good.
So whenever you turn to food as a reward, it results in dopamine production and activates the pleasure centres of the brain, making you feel comforted after you finish your meal.
However, if this behaviour is reinforced frequently, it can turn into a habit. So much so that we begin turning to food whenever we are in a bad place emotionally, regardless of whether we feel comforted at the end of the meal.
Let me give you an example. Imagine feeling overwhelmed with an important assignment due tomorrow. You reach for a slice of pizza, even though you just had dinner. Years of associating food with comfort have programmed your brain to seek it out as a stress reliever, even when you are not hungry. You find solace in the unnecessary calories as a means of coping with the stress from your assignment.
In other words, your brain’s signals for hunger and satiety tend to be overridden by constant reinforcement, thereby training your brain to engage in these automated and unhealthy behaviours.
4. Developmental Factors
Developmental factors play quite an important role in emotional eating. For starters, experts suggest that emotional eating is not necessarily something that you genetically inherit from your parents. It is a learned behaviour.
For example, many times, parents provide their children with a cookie or a bar of chocolate when they are feeling low or sad. According to a 2015 study, children as young as 3-5 years old reach out towards foods like cookies, crisps, and chocolates to alleviate negative foods.
Over time, this child begins to reach out to such comfort food whenever they are faced with situations wherein they experience these emotions. While it might be easy for children to adopt this, it is very difficult for them to unlearn these thinking patterns.
How to Control Emotional Eating?
If you are someone who finds themselves resorting to emotional eating frequently and struggling to overcome it, here are some of the steps we identified that can help you.
1. Begin Maintaining a Food Journal
A great place for you to create awareness about your consumption patterns would be by tracking them. By maintaining a food journal, you will be able to examine what, when, and how much you eat. Not only that, you can also track your feelings and determine whether you feel emotionally or physically hungry when eating each meal.
Introspect and ask yourself questions like:
“What are the recurring events that trigger emotional eating?”
“What thoughts were running through my head before, just before I felt like eating?”
“What was I feeling when I wanted to eat?”
“Was there a specific conversation or event that led to that urge?”
This exercise will help you become more mindful of your consumption patterns. Over time, you will be able to observe patterns in your eating behaviour, including emotional eating triggers, thereby allowing you to modify your behaviour and break free from the triggers.
2. Do Not Feel Guilty if You Eat
Try not to be restrictive when it comes to your eating. Labelling your foods as “good” or “bad” might be a step in the wrong direction. Especially if you have a day where you consume highly palatable foods. If they are perceived as bad, then you will end up feeling guilty about them.
Not just that, restrictive eating can subsequently result in disordered eating along with physical and mental health issues.
With that being said, avoid labelling or categorising your foods. It is okay to eat a cookie once in a while. Try to incorporate a balanced diet by including a little bit of everything, as too much of anything can be harmful.
3. Use the S.T.O.P Method
This method, suggested by physical therapist Dr. Morgan Nolte, can come in handy when you feel the urge to consume foods that are not part of your plan. She suggests one must create:
S = Space from food: If you find yourself in a situation where you either feel tempted to eat foods despite being full or eat foods that are not in your plan, then try to leave the room immediately. Going to another room or even the toilet at that moment creates physical distance from the food. This will allow you to rethink whether you want to consume the food in the first place.
T = Time from food: Just like with space, whenever you feel the urge to consume something, do not give in. Instead, set a timer for 5–10 minutes. This break will help you go through the next two steps.
O = Observe your feelings: Examine what behaviours are driving you to want to eat and whether you are emotionally or physically hungry. If your urges are driven by emotional hunger, then recognise that you do not have to eat if you do not want to.
P = Plan: After you observe your feelings, create a plan if you want to go ahead and eat or not. If you do not want to eat, then identify some alternatives for the food. We have discussed this in detail in the next point.
4. Include Food Stoppers
Food stoppers, as the name suggests, are tools and strategies that help you break the pattern of using food as a comfort or coping mechanism.
Dr Nolte suggests steps such as chewing gum, brushing your teeth, or taking a walk after a meal. These not only act as barriers but also as physical and psychological reminders that you are done consuming food and will not consume more.
The journey towards creating a healthy relationship between food and you is a tough one. Especially if you add in years of damage done by emotionally eating. While it might be challenging to undo, it's not impossible. It sure will take time, but at the end of it, you will be in control of what you eat and not the other way around.
References Adam, T. C., & Epel, E. S. (2007). Stress, eating and the reward system. Physiology & Behavior, 91(4), 449–458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.04.011 Burnatowska, E., Surma, S., & Olszanecka-Glinianowicz, M. (2022). Relationship between mental health and emotional eating during the covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Nutrients, 14(19), 3989. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14193989 Corno, G., Paquette, A., Monthuy-Blanc, J., Ouellet, M., & Bouchard, S. (2022). The relationship between women’s negative body image and disordered eating behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.856933 Farrow, C. V., Haycraft, E., & Blissett, J. M. (2015). Teaching our children when to eat: How parental feeding practices inform the development of emotional eating—a longitudinal experimental design. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 101(5), 908–913. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.103713 Lazarevich, I., Irigoyen Camacho, M. E., Velázquez-Alva, M. del, & Zepeda Zepeda, M. (2016). Relationship among obesity, depression, and emotional eating in young adults. Appetite, 107, 639–644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.09.011 Lopez-Cepero, A., Frisard, C. F., Lemon, S. C., & Rosal, M. C. (2018). Association of dysfunctional eating patterns and metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease among Latinos. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 118(5), 849–856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2017.06.007 McAtamney, K., Mantzios, M., Egan, H., & Wallis, D. J. (2021). Emotional eating during covid-19 in the United Kingdom: Exploring the roles of alexithymia and emotion dysregulation. Appetite, 161, 105120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105120 Puchkova-Sistac, A., de Lauzon-Guillain, B., Girerd, N., Boivin, J.-M., Bozec, E., Mercklé, L., Nazare, J.-A., Laville, M., Rossignol, P., & Wagner, S. (2023). Association between eating behaviour and 13-year cardiovascular damages in the initially healthy Stanislas cohort. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 30(4), 349–357. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwac287 Singh, M. (2014). Mood, food, and obesity. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00925 Willem, C., Gandolphe, M. C., Doba, K., Roussel, M., Verkindt, H., Pattou, F., & Nandrino, J. L. (2020). Eating when stressed or distressed, different pathways to emotional eating depending on obesity’s severity. Nutrition Clinique et Métabolisme, 34(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nupar.2020.02.019 |