Emotional Eating - How to Break the Vicious Cycle?

We all have difficult days when we seek a bit of relief and comfort. For many of us, such a day might end like this: we reach for the refrigerator or the snack drawer, looking for something tasty and comforting.

For a moment we might actually feel cheered up, but very quickly the sense of relief fades, and we may find ourselves in an even worse mood: not only does the problem that troubled us in the first place still exist, but now we have added guilt and self-criticism over the overeating. This is especially true if it is a regular habit we would like to change. Thus begins the vicious cycle of pangs of conscience, renewed overeating, and repeating the pattern all over again.

It is not just about our willpower; as it turns out, some of us have a greater tendency to develop emotional eating than others.

Researchers explain that this is a complex phenomenon dependent on many hereditary and environmental factors.

During prolonged stress, cortisol is released—a stress hormone that, among other things, increases appetite. Studies have shown that prolonged distress triggers a survival response that increases the drive to consume foods high in fat and sugar. Once digested, their components release substances that moderate our physiological and mental responses to stress, and as a result, we feel better. It seems that this is why such foods earned the popular name 'comfort food'.

This response may be stronger in women, people with high insulin levels, or those with cortisol hyper-reactivity.

Many parents use food to soothe their children's distress. For example, offering a child a favorite food when they are hurt or sad. This phenomenon is known as 'emotional feeding', and it can indirectly teach the child to use eating themselves in the future when they are in distress.

It was found that when emotional eaters eat while experiencing negative emotions, they perceive the food as tastier. This indicates that their reward system is working overtime. 'Food becomes a kind of self-treatment tool for them to relieve negative emotions, similar to the misuse of drugs or addictive substances'.

Once a rewarding behavior is reinforced time and again, it eventually becomes a new automatic habit where food is linked to a new reward, such as comfort or relief from negative emotions.

In our environment, there are many factors that enable and even encourage the development of habits that create these associations: social norms, availability and abundance, upbringing, and more.

Food has become a popular coping mechanism because it is highly accessible, and it is more socially accepted than other mind-altering substances like alcohol or drugs. While drug use or getting drunk can provoke judgmental reactions from those around us, eating is much more socially acceptable.

Our environment often encourages the tendency toward emotional eating by surrounding us with so many industrial, processed foods high in sugar, making them nearly impossible to avoid.

Due to their composition, which is typically rich in fat and sugar, these foods stimulate the overactivity of that addictive reward mechanism in our brain.

Another mechanism through which this habit is acquired: celebratory eating—events, holidays, parties, and even just routine hangouts are usually accompanied by food and experienced as opportunities to indulge in favorite dishes.

It is not surprising that we learned to associate food with comforting emotions.

The problem begins when we use it as a coping mechanism for negative emotions such as stress or sadness.

How to Break the Vicious Cycle of Emotional Eating?

As long as emotional eating is done in moderation, it is usually harmless. However, when it becomes a regular habit, it can deteriorate our physical and emotional health. Beyond the nutritional toll our body pays, our mind also suffers: first, due to the inadequate response to the negative emotions that triggered the eating in the first place, and second, due to the subsequent guilt and regret.

To deal with this phenomenon, it is recommended first to address the root of the problem and try to break the connection formed between food and emotions by separating them. The goal is to return food to its original purpose: nourishing our physiological hunger, while leaving the comforting role to other sources.

Ask yourself, 'Am I really hungry?'

Mindful eating can help us interrupt the automatic response and begin to redirect it. If it is not a physiological hunger, what is our need right now? Perhaps what we are feeling is anger, loneliness, or tension. Writing or keeping a journal will clarify repeating patterns in our behavior, allowing us to make a change.

Additionally, during eating itself, it is advisable to avoid distractions like screens, focus solely on eating and the sensations arising from it, pay attention to signals of fullness, and act accordingly.

Practicing meditation, such as mindfulness, reduces stress and helps develop awareness of the automatic habits that control us. Engaging in physical activity can reduce some of the harmful effects of stress.

Sometimes, excessive self-judgment and pangs of conscience only increase feelings of stress, craving, shame, and guilt. All of these only lead us back into the vicious cycle of further emotional eating. We can enjoy our favorite foods, but it is best to eat them for the pleasure of eating itself, rather than as a form of self-therapy and comfort.