What are the common causes of emotional eating

People eat for so many other reasons than to satisfy hunger. And all these reasons lead to what is called emotional eating. And while emotional eating is commonly associated with negative feelings, it can also be caused by positive emotions and events. Knowing the common causes of emotional eating is part of the initial step to address this problem.

1. Stress

If you have ever noticed that you eat more “unhealthy” food when you are stressed, you are not alone. Stress makes you hungry because of the increase in the hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers our cravings for food that give bursts of energy such as snacks that are sweet, salty or high in fat. When you are constantly stressed, your cravings are always present.

2. Boredom

Stuffing your face with food is probably one of the easiest things to do when you are bored. Eating when you are bored is really a no-brainer. Putting food in your mouth, no matter what it is keeps you preoccupied. And most of the time, eating out of boredom means you are less choosy and decisive about food. The tendency is to eat just about anything, just so you have something to do.

3. Feeling of emptiness

Similar to the feeling of boredom, feeling of emptiness pushes people to eat and eat a lot of the wrong kinds of food. Eating might be your way of filling that void in your life and getting distracted from the real problems that you are faced with.

4. Silencing emotions

When faced with a lot of conflicting emotions or complicated problems, it is very difficult to simply choose what do handle first. Eating is an instant way to silence uncomfortable emotions and you end up temporarily numb or forgetting the emotion you did not want to face.

5. Childhood habits

A lot of our food habits today can be traced back from childhood. Examples of these are food used as reward for good behaviour or great school performance or treats given to make one feel better when sad. These practices are carried over into adult life and thus, it is not a surprise that you associate food with feeling better or nostalgic memories of the good old times.

6. Social influences

Being around people who have similar food practices adds a feeling of comfort because you see that you are not the only one who feels the stress and eats when you are stressed. Also, being in a social situation adds pressure to go along with the group even when you are not necessarily feeling the same urge to eat.