Are you a person who celebrates exciting occasions with an extensive meal? When you are sad or depressed do you find yourself drowning your sorrows in a bowl of ice cream? How about when you are lonely or bored? Do you grab a bag of chips and plop down in front of the TV? In episodes like these there are two consistent factors, emotions and eating. Whether you are a person who gorges regularly consuming bags of cookies and chips in one sitting, or you are someone who occasionally eats an entire pint of ice cream while watching TV, the cause for your overindulgence is by and large emotional. Issues such as unresolved stress, anger, or loneliness can trigger an overeating event, thus defining the term emotional eating.
The topic of emotional eating has received quite a bit of attention this summer. In the June 2007 edition of Health magazine there is an article entitled, “Our Dirty Little Secret? Why We Can’t Stop Bingeing.” And in the July 2007 edition of Good Housekeeping you will find a similar article entitled “Hey You! Happy? Sad? Lonely? Stay Away from the Fridge!” Both authors attempt to breakdown the connection between emotions and eating explaining how a large majority of people use food as a way to manage their feelings.
In the Health magazine article, written by Leslie Goldman, more severe occurrences of emotional eating can actually be considered a type of disorder. The article shares details of a 2007 Harvard University research study on overeating. Researchers classify certain types of overeating incidents as Binge Eating Disorder (BED). They go on to say that binge eating is an epidemic of large proportions deemed more universal than anorexia and bulimia combined. With findings this significant it is important to understand how and why emotional overeating can so greatly impinge on a person’s well-being.
As you experience life, you experience emotions. Feelings such as happiness, sadness, excitement, sorrow, anger, frustration, and lonesomeness creep up recurrently. In order to maintain a healthy well-being, you must recognize and cope with emotions each and every time you feel them. At times this is an easy process, however at other times it can be very overwhelming. For times when feelings are good you often want a way to reward yourself and celebrate. And for those times when feelings are negative you simply want to escape. In both instances using food as a response to the emotions is extremely unhealthy because as we all know, excessive eating leads to numerous health problems.
For those occasions when you celebrate with food an easy fix is to simply institute other types of feel good rituals to take the place of feasting. Think of other ways to make merry and you eliminate the potential negative effects of overindulgence. However for those who use food to manage the more negative feelings of life, food serves as the unhealthy substance turned to for relief. And unfortunately, this instance can be harder to rectify. You see, when you experience overwhelming negative emotions eating allows you the opportunity to escape what you are feeling. Or rather you hope it does. While you are indulging you experience a false sense of feeling better. You erroneously believe that all is well and everything will be okay. The basic science behind this feel good occurrence is that certain binge foods like sweets temporarily increase serontonin and decrease cortisol. The cycle of binge eating then becomes a way of coping with emotional uneasiness providing perceived reprieve from what you are thinking and feeling.
The problem with emotional eating is that like with all unhealthy coping skills, the escape is only temporary. Once you complete a cycle of overeating, you find the negative emotions are still there, unmanaged and just as bothersome. They are then compounded by further turmoil due to the guilt and shame associated with the binge.
Overindulging on food fosters denial and an unrealistic sense of managing life. It is also accompanied by severe consequences such as weight gain. So in order to genuinely feel better, you must manage your feelings in a healthy way. This is the only proper route to purging the negative emotions, commemorating the positive ones and living life to the fullest and healthiest extent possible.
* It is always in your best wellness interest to obtain professional help for severe health concerns. If you find yourself struggling physically or mentally and are not able to function as normal, make sure to visit your primary care physician or find a professional referral from your insurance company. Take responsibility for your health and seek professional assistance as needed. |
