Are you an emotional eater?
We go out to eat to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, promotion, etc. Or we entertain around dinner parties and holidays. At church functions, there are socials and potluck meals. You name it and somehow it all revolves around food. Yes it has a role in our lives of comfort and entertainment. Culturally and instinctively we prepare and serve foods to comfort those who have experienced loss, to celebrate joy or to show friendship and love.
Food is very
important in our lives. Without food we
would not be able to perform our daily activities. Our muscles would wither,
our nervous system would fail. We all need food.
WHAT IS EMOTIONAL EATING?
But are you
also eating whenever you are lonely or sad? Seeing food as more than just a
source of energy and enjoying it simply for the satisfaction it gives is not
wrong. In fact science shows that food can promote good feelings by chemical
reactions caused in our brains. What IS a problem is when an individual cannot
experience pain, anxiety, joy or even boredom without turning to food as means
of dealing with those feelings, or they are obsessed with food, weight and
dieting.
Emotional
eaters turn to food as a source of distraction from dealing with feelings. However,
eating these foods leads to feelings of guilt which can only be soothed with
more eating, restrictive dieting, excessive exercise or purging.
Emotional
eaters tend to value themselves based on their weight and how closely they've
stuck to their 'ideal' diet. Because of this distorted relationship with food,
foods are labeled "GOOD" and "BAD". Emotional eating can
lead to serious eating disorders and depression.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I'M AN EMOTIONAL EATER?
Do you turn
to food for reasons other than hunger? Are you obsessed with thoughts of food -
whether you plan to eat it or are concentrating on restricting yourself from
eating it?
Do you
regularly try diets and fail - leading to guilt and further over eating? Do you
think about or attempt to purge excess food by throwing up or using laxatives? Do
you exercise compulsively when you think you've eaten too much?
HOW DO I OVERCOME EMOTIONAL EATING?
Since
emotional eating is caused by looking to food as a coping strategy for
emotional distress dieting can actually create more problems. When the emotional
eater fails to stick to a diet they suffer feelings of guilt that can only be
soothed with more food and in turn, more guilt or punishment.
Instead of
trying to focus on what they are eating, the emotional eater needs to learn new
skills for coping with stressful emotions. Often this requires the help of a
Personal Coach or Psychotherapist who deals with emotional eating. It is only
by finding replacements for the comfort food provided that the individual can
put food into its rightful place and learn healthy eating habits that last a
lifetime.
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