Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating: we all do it. In fact, our emotions play a big role in what we eat, why we eat, and how much we eat. Take a few minutes right now to answer this question: What emotions do you associate with eating? Are they positive or negative? Are they both and if they are, are they more positive than negative or vice versa? I associate eating with enjoyment, happiness, comfort, sadness, boredom, guilt, anger, and habit. I am not here to tell you that emotional eating is something that we can solve, because the reality is emotions are what can give food purpose and memory, not just food is fuel. What we can work on is becoming more present to our emotions and our choice of food. Having the donut because you enjoy donuts and having a donut because you are feeling a negative emotion and need some serotonin and will later have feelings of regret against the donut are two different experiences and we want to minimize the latter. Although sometimes we cannot control what we feel (especially the negative emotions), we do have control over our reactions. Remember eating is a part of everyday life and we should enjoy it. When we do this our food becomes so much more satisfying.