By Heather Hateld | WebMD Feature | Reviewed by Charlotte E. Grayson Mathis, MD EMOTIONAL EATING EATI ATIN
ere are several dierences between emotional hunger and physical hunger, according to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site: 1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually. 2. When you are eating to ll a void that isn’t related to an empty stomach, you crave a specic food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you’re open to options. 3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satised instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait. 4. Even when you are full, if you’re eating to satisfy an emotional need, you’re more likely to keep eating. When you’re eating because you’re hungry, you’re more likely to stop when you’re full. 5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.
Are You an Emotional Eater?
You are an emotional eaters if you answer yes to any of the following questions: Do you ever eat without realizing you’re even doing it? Do you often feel guilty or ashamed after eating? Do you often eat alone or at odd locations, such as parked in your car outside your own house? After an unpleasant experience, such as an argument, do you eat even if you aren’t feeling hungry? Do you crave specic foods when you’re upset, such as always desiring chocolate when you feel depressed? Do you feel the urge to eat in response to outside cues like seeing food advertised on television? Do you eat because you feel there’s nothing else to do? Does eating make you feel better when you’re down or less focused on problems when you’re worried about something? If you eat unusually large quantities of food or you regularly eat until you feel uncomfortable to the point of nausea, you have a problem with binge eating. Please speak to your health care professional.
COMFORT FOODS When emotional hunger rumbles, one of its distinguishing characteristics is that you’re focused on a particular food, which is likely a comfort food. “Comfort foods are foods a person eats to obtain or maintain a feeling,” says Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois. “Comfort foods are often wrongly associated with negative moods, and indeed, people often consume them when they’re down or depressed, but interestingly enough, comfort foods are also consumed to maintain good moods.” Ice cream is rst on the comfort food list. After ice cream, comfort foods break down by sex: For women it’s chocolate and cookies; for men it’s pizza, steak, and casserole, explains Wansink. And what you reach for when eating to satisfy an emotion depends on the emotion. According to an article by Wansink, published in the July 2000 American Demographics, “ e types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer … foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips.”
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