Are you stressed about stress eating?
As humans, we eat for many reasons. We have to eat to provide our bodies with energy and calories to function, and we also eat for pleasure, joy, and health. Food has a beautiful ability to bring us together in the community. It can provide a through-line of connection to our cultural roots, and familial traditions, and has an amazing ability to provide comfort when we are homesick, missing a loved one, or simply just having a hard day. We also eat to cope and regulate emotions. We eat when we are happy, we eat when we are sad, and sometimes we even eat when we are stressed. And that is okay. Here’s why:
What is emotional eating?
Emotional eating is eating when we are not physically hungry, and eating in response to an emotion. It often has a very negative connotation and is seen as “bad” or “shameful” when we eat in response to stress, anxiety, loneliness, or anger, but it is actually a completely normal way to regulate. If it is socially acceptable to exercise in response to stress, why is it not acceptable to eat and meet one of our basic human needs?
Before we pathologize our emotions behind why we are eating, let’s take a moment to check-in. When you find yourself stress eating is it because:
You’re feeling anxious, short-fused, or stressed? Feeling stressed or anxious is a common, yet under-recognized, sign of hunger. We have all heard of hangry (thanks Snickers), but hangxiety is also real. This is because if you aren’t eating enough to meet your body’s physiological needs, your body will feel threatened and stressed. When your blood sugar drops, your body releases stress hormones which can make you feel frantic. If you haven’t eaten enough in your day, or in the last few hours, you are going to feel emotional.
You’re restricting food overall or certain types of food? When you restrict food, calories, or certain types of foods this will eventually result in a feeling of deprivation and will increase your cravings for the foods you are restricting. When you aren’t stressed, you may be able to have enough mental bandwidth to maintain your rules and restriction. But when something stressful or triggering occurs, you will be less likely to be able to maintain this facade of control. It seems counterintuitive, but if you actually allow yourself to eat your “stress foods” more often, they will be less triggering, and you will be less likely to feel out of control around them. Having a wide variety of foods available to you throughout the day, including the ones you feel “out of control” around, can be a helpful way to incorporate them into your day and reduce guilt.
Is food your only coping mechanism? We have a variety of tools to cope with emotions. Some are more healthful than others. Some turn to substances, exercise, meditation, a quiet walk, TV, social media, or food. When coping with emotions, we should have a wide variety of tools at our disposal. One that should always be an available tool is food. Many of the tools listed above require time, which we don’t always have at our disposal. This is why food can be a great way that we can regulate our emotions and self-soothe. We can’t take the emotion our of food. Imagine a crying child for a moment, when a child is crying, often the caregiver will hold, and feed the child. This is why food is so deeply engrained in us as something that is soothing. This doesn’t change as we age.
When we eat, our brains release feel-good hormones like dopamine which provide us with temporary feelings of pleasure and comfort. This can be helpful in the middle of your day when you don’t have time to go for a walk or do a meditation. And as we all know, the feeling we have after eating brownies or chips is only temporary. But they can be a helpful bridge until we have time and space at the end of the day or the week to reflect back on why we are feeling stressed or anxious. Once we have time to reflect, we can assess what other tools we can incorporate into our lives that help us regulate and manage our stress levels. Having a variety of tools to cope with our emotions is helpful so that we have a functional and actionable toolbox that is adaptable in a variety of situations. We don’t have to demonize food - it might be just another helpful tool among others.
Building Awareness
Practicing awareness of what and how our body is feeling can be a powerful skill in gaining more understanding and respect for what is going on in and around us. You can start to build more awareness by asking yourself:
How do I know if I am hungry, full, or satiated? What are some of the mental, emotional, and physical cues or sensations that you experience when you are hungry, neutral, and full? This is not an easy question and the answers are going to be very individualized.
Do I allow myself to eat my “stress” foods outside of being stressed? If the answer is no, then it would make sense that you feel a sense of urgency and more chaotic around these foods. If you can, try to incorporate your “stress foods” into regular meals or snacks outside of stress to help normalize your relationship to these foods.
What are some initial signs of stress that I can pick up on before I feel like I am spiraling? Do you start to have shorter breaths? Do you feel triggered by small things that wouldn’t normally trigger an intense emotion? Are you regularly incorporating some sort of self-care or self-keeping on a daily or weekly basis to keep stress levels at bay? Asking yourself some of these questions can be helpful to gain more awareness and tools to manage stress.
If you are struggling with emotional eating and you feel like it is deeply impacting your life and your relationships, reach out to one of our dietitians or your therapist. Together you can build more awareness around why you’re eating and the root of your stress and emotions and build a well-rounded toolbox that best meets your needs.