Have you ever had the experience that when you are depressed or tense or stressed at work or school, you can just grab a snack and stuff it into your mouth, and as long as your mouth is chewing, your nerves seem to relax immediately? But then comes the guilt and guilt, the fear of becoming fat and more depressed and stressed. Emotional eating can undermine weight loss goals, and it is crucial to find ways to reduce stress to stop overeating.
This vicious cycle caused by emotional eating will allow the body to accumulate too many stress hormones, and long-term can lead to a variety of health problems the first is obesity which can damage the immune system, leading to a variety of diseases.
Why Do You Crave Food When You’re Stressed?
The triggers for emotional eating include, in addition to stress:
- Boredom
- Bad habits
- Fatigue
- The environment in which
Many studies have shown that emotional eating is more common in women than in men. Negative emotions can lead to a sense of emptiness, and most people will fill this void with food (especially junk food), creating a false sense of satisfaction. The immediate consequence of this “satisfaction” is weight gain, and you may feel guilty that your self-control is too poor when it is not your fault.
When you are often in a stressful and stressful situation, the adrenal glands will release a hormone called cortisol, which increases your appetite and often increases the motivation to eat, which means that there are various excuses for “eating”.
Numerous studies (including many animal studies) have demonstrated that physical or emotional distress increases the intake of high sugar, high fat, high-calorie foods, thereby creating a feedback effect that reduces the negative emotions associated with stress, hence the term “comfort food”.
How to Know if You Are Emotional Eating
When you want to look for food again, stop for ten seconds and think about whether you are hungry or fake hunger. The following list can help you distinguish between real hunger and emotional hunger:
| Physical Hunger | Emotional Hunger |
| Hunger develops slowly | Sudden craving for food |
| Wanting to eat various things | Only craving certain foods |
| Feeling full after eating and stopping eating | May overeat without feeling full |
| No negative feelings about eating | Feel ashamed or guilty about eating |
How to Stop Emotional Eating
While “eating” can temporarily relieve stress, it can also have more negative effects, including weight gain and inflammatory diseases, which can make you more upset than before. The key to controlling emotional eating is to find the root cause of stress and find ways to cope with negative emotions. When your “emotions” are satisfied and your nerves are soothed, this overeating problem can be ended.
Here are a few ways to relieve stress:
- Journaling: writing out your feelings is also an emotional outlet, and you can also record what foods you eat, which will help you make the right choices and control your diet.
- Get moving: Regular exercise helps relieve stress, even ten minutes of yoga and walking can calm down nervous anxiety.
- Try meditation: You can meditate to quiet yourself and curb the urge to eat. Many studies support the therapeutic effects of positive meditation on bulimia and emotional eating.
- Remove junk food: When people have stress most of their favorite foods are high-sugar and high-calorie, such as potato chips, ice cream, cookies, etc. Do not store these foods. If you need to use food to relieve stress, ensure that the food at hand is healthy, such as nuts, fruit, etc…
- Ensure adequate sleep: adequate sleep will make you feel refreshed and help to improve the efficiency of work and study. Conversely, lack of sleep will increase cortisol levels, making you more stressed and more likely to overeat.
- Seek Help: When you feel sad, anxious, nervous, or lonely, it is essential to seek help from others in time, find family and friends to talk to, or see a psychologist, they can help you soothe negative emotions, on the one hand, can stop you from over-reliance on food, and is good for both physical and mental health.
Conclusion
The urge to eat when you are upset, nervous, or stressed is a sign of emotional eating that plagues many people and even makes them feel guilty and lose confidence in themselves. If you are also experiencing such problems and are worried about gaining weight as a result and affecting your weight loss, try the few suggestions mentioned in this article to identify the root cause of stress and seek new healthy habits to overcome your dependence on food.
