Emotional Eating: The Causes Of Food And Eats

Have you ever wondered why an organic task such as eating turned into such an emotional experience? For what reason do people choose to associate feeling better with eating certain foods? We have identified certain foods with fondness since we were children. Food is like a reward. You get in a fight with a friend at school and when you come home, you don’t race to tell your parents what happened, you go for the tub of ice cream instead to make yourself feel better.

Emotional eating is a form of consumption where people use food to fulfill their emotions rather than their hunger. Whether it is, eating a whole bag of candy due to boredom or demolishing a giant cookie when writing a stressful paper, we all know we are guilty at least at some level to emotional eating. Unfortunately this is a problem because we do not always recognize what we are doing. Emotional eating can lead to serious issues such as weight gain and overall health. When we think of food and behavior, we don’t normally think about the correlation between eating and feelings.

What makes people eat emotionally? Many think that emotional eating is simply caused by negative feelings alone, but this is false. Emotional eating can be connected with holidays, birthdays, romance, and much more. Occasionally, emotional eating also occurs during huge life events such as divorce or death. In most cases however, it is the little stressors that make people turn to food for comfort and diversion.

Foods that make us feel good are called comfort foods. Comfort foods offer a kind of happiness on a psychological level. Psychological studies have indicated that the “comfort foods we crave are actually artifacts from our pasts.” (Galison) Eating these foods bring us back to our fo...

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...od? Next time think about if you are actually hungry. Is your stomach is growling? Are you having trouble concentrating? These signs are directly related to physical hunger. Now you can choose something healthy and not too heavy to hold yourself until your next large meal.

If you are not really hungry, if the post-school food snack time has just become part of your routine, think about why. Why are you eating? Find a replacement activity to distract yourself. Are you bored or lonely, stressed out, tired or eating to procrastinate? Try a yoga. Meditation really helps ease the mind and puts you in the present. Meditation is one of the most wonderful things you can do with yourself. Frequently, we are not very mindful in our day. Checking in with ourselves is very important. We are frequently stressed, and focused on everything but the present. Recognize and relax.