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| Emotional Eating |
Sandra found her
weight ballooning 60 pounds after her separation from her husband. While part of the weight gain was apparently
tied to the medication she was taking, the rest appeared to be the result of
what can be described as emotional eating.
In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the problem of
emotional eating for both women and men.
In fact, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain
can be blamed on emotional eating.
According to Women Today magazine, it has been estimated that as much as
75 percent of overeating is attributed to the emotions.
For a number of
people, overeating stems from anxiety.
For instance, if you find yourself consuming an entire bag of potato
chips, it’s possible that anxiety is the cause.
While many people realize that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an
antidote to anxiety, they may not understand that indulging in comfort food in
order to combat anxiety can be dangerous as well.
In other
cases, overeating may be the result of depression. If you feel tired, hopeless, and have lost
interest in your normal activities, you may be suffering from a depressive
episode. In order to deal with these
uncomfortable feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up. The problem is that the food can lead to
weight gain, which can lead to further depression.
At times,
overeating may be a symptom of boredom.
An individual may figure that he or she has nothing better to do than
overeat. This can be particularly true
when one is watching television or surfing the Internet. Rather than trying to determine a cause for
the boredom, an individual may just try to “fix” it by indulging in high-fat,
high-calorie food.
How do you
know if you are an emotional eater? Ask
yourself some key questions: Do I tend
to eat when I’m worried? Scared? Sad?
Do I find that eating lifts my spirits?
Am I spending more time eating than engaging in other activities I
enjoy? Do my binges come after I’ve
suffered disappointment? Am I turning to
food in order to deal with the death of a loved one…a divorce…or the defeat of
my favorite team? If the answers to any
of these questions is “yes,” you may be overeating purely for emotional
reasons.
After you’ve
identified yourself as an emotional eater, you’ll need to take steps to correct
your behavior. Perhaps the most
effective technique is diversion. In
other words, if you find yourself reaching for the cookie jar, find another
activity to engage in. The answer could
be taking a walk, kickboxing, or dancing.
Or it could be something less physically demanding, such as needlepoint
or crochet. The idea is to get your
hands…and perhaps the rest of your body…moving.
In time, you might find the urge to overeat subsides as you become
involved with other activities.
Another
effective step you can take is to identify the triggers for your emotional
eating. Do you tend to binge in
mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or right before bedtime? Are you snacking while watching television,
while at the computer, or when you’re sitting in your favorite chair? By asking yourself these questions, you can
identify the time of day when you overeat, as well as the location for your
binging. With this information, you can
learn to re-direct your behavior to less fattening pursuits.
Yet
another helpful technique is to develop a support network to help you combat
overeating. The members of your support
team could include your spouse, children, parents, friends, or other
over-eaters. You may even consider
joining a support group which specializes in helping those who engage in binge
eating. If you feel the need to overeat,
contact a member of your support team.
Talking through your emotions could provide you with the emotional
release you need, making overeating unnecessary.
If your
anxiety or depression persists, consider seeing a psychotherapist. He or she can help you develop more effective
coping mechanisms. If you find it
difficult to talk to friends or family about your overeating, a psychotherapist
can provide you with the talk therapy you need to overcome your problem.
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