Are you suffering from an emotional eating disorder?

Are you suffering from an emotional eating disorder?

What's Eating You?: How to Stop Emotional Eating

Like many of my patients, as a child you may have been given something tasty like ice cream, chips, candy or a cookie or other favorite food when something upset you, in a well-meaning effort by a parent or caregiver to calm you down and make you smile again. If so, you have unknowingly been programmed to “emotional eating,” that is, eating to calm your emotions when a problem or even a perceived problem arises.

Your immediate reaction to something exciting is to eat - many people, including my patients, jump in the car and go through the drive-thru at the local fast food restaurant to grab a quick ice cream or burger and park them in the parking lot. Or you can raid the cupboards for chips or cookies, or even make an entire meal out of something that appeals to you at the moment to get you through the excitement. Does that sound like you? If so, you should read my recommendations on how to stop this unhealthy eating pattern.

Is your food eating you?

You might be surprised to know how many people engage in emotional binge eating. They eat out of depression, stress, anger, loneliness, low self-esteem and just plain boredom! It may seem harmless, but in reality it can lead to such dangerous health disorders as bulimia - that is, binge eating followed by vomiting - or dangerous excess weight gain. In fact, health experts estimate that about 75% of overeating is due to “emotional” causes. Emotional eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia affect more women than men, with approximately 10 million women and 1 million men exhibiting the behavior. However, there are millions more Americans who simply engage in emotional stress eating.

Most chronic emotional eaters instinctively know to turn to food (and even other substances like alcohol or drugs) in times of stress. However, you may fall into the occasional emotional eater/drinker group. The following true and false questions can help you determine which pattern you best fit:

1. True ___ False ___. When I'm under emotional stress, I tend to have unhealthy eating or drinking patterns.

2. True___ False ___. I am proud of things I achieve.

3. True___ False____. I always find an excuse not to exercise regularly.

4. True___ False____. I find it difficult to stay interested/committed to achieving a goal.

5. True___ False____. I only do something if there is potential for reward.

6. True ___False____. I have confidence in myself.

7. True___ False____. I often feel guilty/remorseful after eating a lot after an emotional crisis.

8. True___ False____. I often feel empty, lonely, somehow lacking.

Rating: If you answered true to questions 1, 3, 4, 5, or 7, you need to adjust your eating/drinking behavior before your health suffers. If you answered true to questions 1, 2, or 6 and false to most other questions, you may only occasionally use food or drink to calm yourself. However, this behavior could lead to unhealthy eating habits in the future.

Feeling stressed? Don't eat, exercise!

Interestingly, one of the worst things you can do when you're stressed - especially high-fat, starchy "comfort" foods that many emotional eaters eat like chips, cakes and cookies, ice cream, etc. Most people who eat under stress often get bad stomach aches, headaches, and just don't feel well. When you are stressed, all of your muscles tense up, including the muscles of digestion. This results in food not being digested properly and can cause unpleasant reactions such as cramps, stomach acid, bloating because your food cannot be fully digested and sits undigested in the stomach for hours.

I recommend to my patients who occasionally or frequently emotionally eat some of these activities when stressed instead of eating:

1. Exercise. I'm listing this first because I feel like it's the best thing you can do instead of eating unhealthy foods. Exercise burns off stress and produces "feel-good" brain chemicals called endorphins, which can get you out of a bad mood and turn off the food alarm pretty quickly.

2. Call a friend. If you're upset about something, you can call a friend or loved one to calm yourself down before going on a food run. Of course, there isn't always someone available to talk to, so have a plan B, like any of the other suggestions here.

3. Breathe. This may sound silly, but deep breathing exercises combined with the old favorite “Count to 10” really work to calm you down. How? It brings more oxygen into your body! During times of stress, most people breathe shallowly/rapidly, which can cause drowsiness due to low oxygen levels in the blood, which can make you feel worse.

4. Distract yourself. Do something – do laundry, wash the car, walk the dog, turn on music (not the TV as it encourages eating).

Emotional eating is a serious disorder. Life-threatening events can even occur from high blood sugar or persistent vomiting that damages the esophageal tissue. These can set the stage for more serious illnesses such as diabetes, ulcers and even cancer. Take control of your emotional eating today by trying some of the recommendations I offer my own patients.

Inspired by Mark Rosenberg, M.D.